Steven Lee, FTMBA 21 — From Parachuting Out of Planes to Becoming an Entrepreneur

H@H: Ep 67 — Steven Lee chats with host, Paulina Lee to share his journey from West Point to Haas and starting Gear2Go.

This week’s episode is in partnership with two other clubs at Haas: Haas Venture Capital Club (HVCC) and Berkeley Entrepreneurship Association (BEA) who recently hosted a pitch night - of which Steven and Gear2Go won for best pitch!

On becoming an entrepreneur:

“I was inspired by the level of entrepreneurship and that go-getter attitude that I saw at [Beachhead]. And I think that that was instrumental in my ultimate decision to pursue entrepreneurship myself, post-Haas. 

On how the idea for Gear2Go was born:

“As all good ideas, I think come to us, they came over several beers on a Tahoe trip. My first year as an MBA student, my co-founder Gavin came out to visit us in Tahoe and over beers we were actually talking about how hard it was to connect with our communities in the army. In the army, you move every year or two years and we're both into the outdoors and finding communities of people that want to go rock climbing or go skiing. We actually struggled to find those throughout our various moves. And we were trying to come up with a way that would make that easier. And so that was kind of the genesis of the idea.”

On Gear2Go’s evolution:

“Not only are we interested in the connected community component, but also interested in making communities that are more equitable and sustainable...That you could participate in these activities without having to spend incredible amounts of money on various types of gear. More sustainable in that we think that not everybody needs their own pressure washer or their own power drill or their own set of climbing equipment to enjoy those activities….our company's mission is to create communities that are more connected, equitable, and sustainable.”