Operated by California Lutheran University’s School of Management, Hub 101 is a professional office space community that offers mentorship and guidance to help people’s business ideas come to life and be successful. The Westlake Village-based workspace is free for students and alumni of Cal Lutheran, and offers full time and off-hour memberships to any other community member.

Jordan Orlick, an alumnus from California State University Northridge used Hub 101 to jumpstart his business, LetzChat, a real-time online language translator. He said it has been fantastic watching his company grow with the help of the office space and his mentors.

“It’s been the greatest thing I’ve ever been to in my life in terms of helping with startups and just the experience with people I’ve met there; everyone there just wants to see you succeed,” Orlick said.

Cal Lutheran alumnus and Orlick’s business partner, Matthew Weisman, said Hub 101 usually has a lot of different companies and investors present to talk and network with.

“We would not be anywhere near as successful if it wasn’t for Hub 101,” Weisman said.

Weisman said the space also offers many amenities such as a common area to unwind from meetings by playing a game of ping pong or foosball.

Orlick and Weisman both gave their gratitude to Greg Monterrosa and Mike Panesis, who have been their advisors for LetzChat.

Monterrosa is Hub 101’s community manager and has had experience owning his own businesses, and Panesis is the executive director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at Cal Lutheran.

Monterrosa said the main goal of Hub 101 is, “to allow our students to discover different passions, different business ventures, and ideas that could potentially change the world.”

He said Hub 101 is always hiring “doers” and many times the students that intern for him end up getting hired by a startup company, which is his ultimate goal.

“My favorite type of resumes are the ones that are pretty much empty,” Monterrosa said.

On Thursday March 15, Hub 101 went to the Startup Village of the Central Coast Innovation Awards in Santa Barbara which was a networking mix and mingle for technology-based startup companies. The participating universities were California Polytechnic San Luis Obispo, California State University Channel Islands, University of California Santa Barbara and Cal Lutheran. Awards were given to startup businesses that earned recognition for their techniques for success.

Most of Hub 101’s advertisement is through their social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and their own website.

“I definitely think it should be going on because a lot of students at Cal Lutheran and a lot of people in general have really good ideas, and they want to talk to someone about it,” Orlick said.

Weisman said he wishes that he knew about Hub 101 sooner and he hopes more Cal Lutheran students will take advantage of its endless opportunities.

“If you want to grow your business, and have the chance for it to really be successful, this is the place to find your contacts. Anything you could ever imagine could happen there, it’s been unbelievable and I think if my company has a chance of getting acquired, it’s thanks to Hub 101 and Greg [Monterrosa],” Weisman said.

All information about Hub 101’s events and programs can be found on their website where they offer free tours to anyone that might be interested in becoming a member of their community.

Brooke Oyler
Reporter