#enstitute

It was a Tuesday evening and I was waiting for the 4 at Union Square to go to Fulton Street. And of course, I was late. And to an Enstitute group session at that." As I listened to Autre Ne Veut to calm my nerves, a spirit of urgency and negative energy washed over me: Busy start to my week with Cesar, nearly a dozen newly created projects across training and new programs were picking up, and with all this good news, I’d still be late to our group check-in. Who wants to be that one late kid to class, with eyes on her shoes that lead her to the last empty chair in the room? And just like that, my thoughts were interrupted by a gentle knocking between my ankles. I look down to see a white-tipped cane dancing its way across the subway floor. Before I turned around, I heard a thoughtful apology from a visually impaired man making his way to the edge of the platform. “Sorry about that.” And when the Brooklyn-bound 4 finally arrived, I watched in silence as he asked a stranger beside him to lead him into the subway card. After accepting his offer, the stranger walked him into subway car, leaving the blind man to find a metal pole to hang on to, while the volunteer found a seat. One stop later, the blind gentleman found his way to the sliding doors, and exited the subway car. I watched him steadily make his way to the exit until his powder blue shirt and khaki pants faded in the distance. Instead of finding sympathy in what one would perceive as his weakness and challenges, every step of that 3 minute interaction brought me back to a place of admiration and respect for a human being. And one that happens to be hindered by his eyesight, not his mission to reach his destination. What can we learned from his actions when we similarly walk into an unfamiliar space but should do so with confidence? - Walk into foreign territory with a guide of sorts. In this case, a white cane was a resource in traveling in the subway. While it helped scope out potential dangers, it ultimately served as an advantageous tool. How else could he independently test if his desired destination was in reach? - “Ask for forgiveness, not for permission.”  A familiar saying I first heard from Enstitute Staff during Bootcamp which suggests one should always be proactive. Better that one pursues their interests with initiative, passion and zeal than ask for pre-approval. - Find allies and mentors along the way. When we typically hear this advice, we assume that we must have known the candidate for a number of years and share similar belief systems or visions. “Oh contraire, mon cheri!” An ally can easily be the ying to your yang! Identify your shortcomings in the strengths of others and see where coaches will emerge. - After some time, go solo. You’ve come in with resources, you’ve acted on your ambition, you’ve made friends along the way, and now it’s time to use what you’ve learned to continue on your path the way you came in - only smarter and stronger.

Kane Sarhan got his start through apprenticeships in the hospitality and tech industries. Building on the practical experience he gained during that period, he co-founded Enstitute to help young professionals gain the skills they need to be successful in 21st-century careers. Watch to see how Kane's mentors, Nihal Mehta and Reshma Saujani, helped him along the way and propelled him toward his goals.

Enstitute, an Alternative to College for a Digital Elite - NYTimes.com

Very interesting model. Combine with online coursework like EDX and I know who'd I'd like to hire...

Published in the New York Times.

For those of you who haven't seen it, this was the video portion of my Enstitute application. I compensated my good friend Max Hoven (in beer) to edit it. I figured I had nothing to lose and wanted to make an impression by being different. It worked. Enjoy

Growing up I had a few ventures in entrepreneurship. The only problem was, I had no idea what I was doing. And no one bothered to tell me. Around the age of 9 or so, I began to notice an abundance of bikes for sale in the area. I also noticed that the price of bikes was very arbitrary. The make, model, age- those things didn’t matter too much when it came to used bikes for sale by owner. The amount of personal attachment was what made the difference. Some people were willing to let go of their bikes for very cheap, while others may sell the same bike for 2-4x the cost. Most of them, however, still sold. A light bulb went off in my head. What if I went for those who were selling the bikes at a low cost, cleaned them up a bit, and then sold them just below the sentimental asking price for a profit? My first business venture was born. Why didn’t anyone tell me I wanted to be an entrepreneur? At 14, I was too young to get a “real” job, so I did what I could: I cut grass for the elderly people in my neighborhood. After a few summers, I had about 7 lawns I would cut on a regular basis, with a few random yards every now and then. I came up with a plan to loan out my spare lawn mower out to the kid from down the street. He would cut some of the yards and in exchange for letting him use the mower, he would pay me $5 out of the $20 made from each lawn. I didn’t do a thing except let him use my mower, the grass got cut and I made $5. Still, I had no idea what I was doing and no one else seemed to notice.

My senior year of high-school, my family moved and I noticed that twice a year the town had a “big trash pickup” where people were able to throw away their larger unwanted items at no cost. All they had to do was put whatever they didn’t want on the curb. I saw a bunch of shit that I wanted, and sprang into action (perhaps this is why I get along with the Holstee guys. “You’re going to throw out that milk? It’s only been expired for a week!  Fine but save the container, we can use it to hold water/plant a flower/cure disease somehow). I noticed that lots of people were throwing away furniture. Good furniture too! I had seen things in worse condition than this go for $50 at Goodwill, at least! Another light bulb. Gather up as much gently used furniture as I could, wait 2 months until summer, host a huge yard sale in my backyard where I sell couches for $50, chairs for $20, desks for $15, you get the picture. Again, no one said a word about my endeavors. At 17, I started working at The UPS Store as well as the Macy’s across the street at the mall. One job I unloaded trucks and unpacked boxes, the other I did the opposite. My hatred for cardboard grew quickly. I noticed at Macy’s that we were throwing out a lot, and I mean a lot of packing material- Packaging peanuts, Styrofoam, air packs, etc. At The UPS Store, we were giving people discounts to bring that stuff in for us to use. Then it hit me- I could start a process where I collect the material from Macy’s and take it over the The UPS store, saving the store money, Macy’s dumpster space, and the landfills a little less non-biodegradable bullshit. It didn’t have to stop there either! There were 2 other anchor department stores at the mall, plus a whole town of people that could participate as well. I had all the pieces in front of me, but failed to see the full picture. Why didn’t anyone tell me!? My last endeavor came during my later years at school (I actually learned something in a classroom!). What I learned was that there was an easy formula for writing papers, but that most kids didn’t care to do it. Some even hated it so much that they were willing to do slightly unethical things to avoid having to do it altogether. I, however, loved writing papers (and doing unethical things!). So, I went for it. I made roughly $500 in my later days of education spitting out papers using the assembly line method I had perfected for the perfect 89-91% paper. Is it something I'm proud of? No (yes) but it happened and I can't change it.