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Babson Alum Creates ‘Mount Dream’, Feedback Tool for Entrepreneurs

Mount Dream

Michael Markarian ’09 is the CEO and Founder of Mount Dream, a feedback platform for new business ideas, allowing entrepreneurs post ideas and the Mount Dream network gives quality feedback. Markarian says the primary purpose of Mount Dream is to get people with ideas to finally take action — and it has proven extremely effective in doing just that.

The Idea

The idea for Mount Dream came from Markarian’s person need for feedback on his business ideas.

“I had ideas for businesses I believed in, but I wasn’t taking actions,” said Markarian.

He always had a reason why he wasn’t starting a business: not enough money, time, knowledge.  What was truly stopping him was the fear, uncertainty, and doubt of whether or not his ideas were any good.

“Asking friends and family is not enough. I needed the real world to help refine my ideas before I wanted to spend lots of money on them — and there was no easy way to get that done,” said Markarian.

The Tools

Mount Dream is not the first place ever created to receive feedback or throw pitch events, but what makes it unique is that all of these tools are blended together to propel an entrepreneur into starting a venture.

The entrepreneur goes through and creates an idea page on the platform, going through all the details of the idea and getting it ready to go public. This page then goes public and the Mount Dream network begins to give feedback and can even opt to stay connected and see where the idea goes.

Now momentum is building, accountability is setting in and the idea is taking off.

Mount Dream Live

Mount Dream does not just provide online feedback but also hosts live events for entrepreneurs to pitch and get feedback in real time. Their first event was at Babson College this past December where 10 Babson student business ideas were picked to pitch to five sharks in front of a live audience. The energy in the room was infectious according to many of the participants.

The winner, Briggs Original, the first alcoholic seltzer made with 100% real fruit went home with $5,000 and a 30-minute video conference with Guy Kawasaki.

Markarian sees so much potential in these campus competitions. “There is genius locked up in dorm rooms and students still need that nudge to get started in a way that is simple and impactful,” said Markarian.

The Babson Effect

“I think Mount Dream encompasses what makes Babson great — people putting ideas into action, getting their hands dirty, and actually working towards making their dream a reality,” said Markarian.

Markarian received support from the Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship to run the Mount Dream event on campus.  He has also participated as a guest lecturer at classes at Babson, which inspired him to start the on campus event.

Mount Dream’s name was no coincidence.  Especially starting the new year Markarian wants people to realize that they can climb the mountain to their dream and reach it, especially with Mount Dream with them every step of the way.