10. Elliott Bisnow: How To Buy a Mountain, and Become Friends With the Most Powerful People on the Planet in Your 20’s

Right before I joined Mike Posner on his walk across America, he asked me if Elliott had hit me up..

I said no, who’s Elliott?? His response? “ELLIOTT IS THE MOST AMAZING HUMAN ON EARTH, MEET HIM AT ALL COSTS!”

The next day, I got a FaceTime from a random number, and picked up to see a face I immediately recognized. I was in shock. This was someone I had been reading about in business books for years, someone Kody and I saw as a hero. Elliott Bisnow.

Years ago Elliott dropped out of college, and wanted to meet other up and coming entrepreneurs. He had a crazy idea.. Cold call amazing rising business leaders and invite them on an all costs paid ski trip with other amazing entrepreneurs. He got the founder of Toms to say yes. Then the founder of Vimeo, Thrillist, and College Humor among others. He then convinced sponsors to cover the costs.

The event was such a hit that he started to double this invite only gathering each year. It grew into Summit, now employing hundreds. His speakers include Jeff Bezos, Quentin Tarantino, Bill Clinton, Kobe Bryant, and Richard Branson. Elliott specializes in making surreal experiences, and has hosted these events all around the world, even renting out cruise ships.

More recently, he and his co-founders bought America’s largest ski resort, Powder Mountain, and are working on re-inventing the modern mountain town. Some of his neighbors here are Reed Hastings (the founder of Netflix), and Tim Ferriss.