A team of Students and Entrepreneurs: Two John Cabot Start-Uppers Create a Company that Teaches Public Speaking Skills

It was a pretty unlikely idea: getting two young men from different parts of the world who share the passion of public speaking to create a company in Rome, Dreamers Communication. Here’s their story.

Marco, from Turin, is studying Communication (with a minor in Entrepreneurship); Charles, a New Yorker, is a Business Administration major. What do they have in common? John Cabot University and public speaking.

Marco describes how it all began: “It all started when I met Charles and we created Speak Up, a public speaking club at John Cabot that helps students improve their public speaking skills. We loved doing the workshops, and at one point I thought that I could turn Speak Up into a business that could help others outside of JCU. So, Charles and I started crafting the idea. We faced many challenges. The biggest was that we just did not know how to do it and did not have the preparation. We knew we had to study hard and commit ourselves to excellence. We prepared for 2 years, until we felt quite ready to take the big step.

It was tough. Every night before going to sleep I would listen to a podcast of my favorite life coach Anthony Robbins; this is where I get my inspiration. My career plan is to stay for 2 years in Rome, then expand our business to Milan and to Europe. I want to reach as many people as possible.”

Charles adds: “We discovered that there was a real value in the Speak Up workshops we were offering students. Professors validated us by allowing us to train their students. From that point forward, we decided that we wanted to bring the same value to people here in Italy outside of JCU.

One of the major challenges we faced was the fact that we could never understand what would happen next. Although we spent a lot of time planning things, events always unfolded differently. I learned how to roll with the punches and focus on the things that I could control.”

With lots of help from John Cabot’s Institute for Entrepreneurship, Marco and Charles are hosting an all-day workshop at JCU on Friday, July 15th aimed to help start-ups devise an effective pitch to investors.