How do you grow an entrepreneur?

If entrepreneurs grew like mushrooms, it’d probably be near impossible to navigate all the economic “disruption.”

The harsh reality is that almost anyone can come up with a novel business idea. Transforming that idea into a budding enterprise takes a lot more, including the right support structure, tools, resilience, mindfulness, guts — and maybe even a dash of luck.

Back to the Roots founders Nikhil Arora and Alejandro Velez enjoyed a fertile mix of those ingredients when, in 2009, UC Berkeley business professor Alan Ross introduced the two based on their shared interest in how edible mushrooms could be grown entirely on spent coffee grounds.

Fast forward seven years and their quirky idea for a grow-your-own mushroom kit has become a wildly successful line of “ready to grow” and “ready to eat” items on the shelves of Target, Whole Foods, Costco and even The Home Depot.

Read more at the original article here.

By Brian Back, UC Newsroom, University of California Office of the President