Dream League Student Leadership & Entrepreneurship Program

A structured mentorship and operations program designed to help students develop discipline, self-awareness, and real-world leadership experience.

Building One Founding School Partnership

Dream League is looking to partner with a Twin Cities school to deliver a structured, real-world entrepreneurship and leadership program for students.

In exchange, Dream League requires access to one section of a football field one night per week.

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This program is not a guest lecture or occasional mentorship talk. It is a structured leadership development experience built around real lessons from starting, building, and operating businesses.

Students will learn how ideas become real organizations, how leaders make decisions under pressure, and how disciplined thinking separates successful builders from those who never start.

  • The Dream League Entrepreneurship & Leadership Program is designed as an ongoing mentorship and development program delivered through structured sessions during the school year.

    Sessions are story-driven, discussion-based, and grounded in real business experience. Students learn not through theory, but through practical examples, decision-making scenarios, and real-world case studies.

    The goal of the program is to help students develop the mindset and skills required to build things, lead teams, and think independently.

    Students will learn how to:

    • Identify opportunities and evaluate ideas

    • Make disciplined decisions using real information

    • Build systems that reduce chaos and increase performance

    • Develop self-awareness and leadership maturity

  • The curriculum is built around four core pillars that form the foundation of entrepreneurship and leadership.

    Pillar #1 - Starting Takes Courage. Staying Takes Discipline.

    Students learn the psychological and practical realities of beginning projects and continuing when the excitement fades. Entrepreneurship requires both the courage to start and the discipline to persist when things become difficult.

    Pillar #2 - Separate Ego from Strategy

    Students learn how to evaluate ideas using real signals such as market demand, numbers, and outcomes. Ambition can fuel progress, but disciplined strategy is what makes success sustainable.

    Pillar #3 - There’s No Pressure If You’re Prepared

    Students learn how preparation and systems reduce chaos. Strong operators build repeatable processes that allow organizations to perform consistently under pressure.

    Pillar #4 - Know Yourself First

    Leadership begins with self-awareness. Students develop a deeper understanding of their strengths, weaknesses, and decision-making tendencies while learning how effective leaders build strong teams around them.

  • The program is delivered through regular mentorship sessions during the school year.

    Sessions are approximately 60 minutes and are typically held twice per month, though scheduling can be coordinated with each school's needs.

    Each session includes:

    • A real-world story or case study

    • Guided discussion with students

    • Practical lessons from entrepreneurship and leadership

    • Actionable challenges that students can apply immediately

    Over time, students gain exposure to the realities of building organizations, solving problems, and leading people.

  • Students who demonstrate interest and initiative may also have the opportunity to participate in real operational roles connected to Dream League.

    Potential areas include:

    • Media and storytelling

    • Game operations

    • Statistics and analytics

    • Marketing and communications

    • Organizational support

    These opportunities provide students with real experience supporting a growing sports organization and allow them to see how ideas become operating systems.

  • Dream League is seeking to establish a long-term partnership with a local school that values leadership development and real-world student opportunity.

    In exchange for hosting the Dream League Entrepreneurship & Leadership Program, Dream League is seeking limited access to a portion of the school’s football field for league activities. This would require only a single section of the field on one evening per week, with scheduling kept flexible based on the school’s availability.

    The goal is to create a mutually beneficial relationship in which:

    • Students gain exposure to entrepreneurship and leadership development

    • The school gains a structured mentorship program for interested students

    • Dream League gains access to a facility to operate its league

  • Reid Nelson is the founder of Dream League and a long-time entrepreneur in the Twin Cities.

    He grew up in rural Minnesota and attended the University of Minnesota, where he developed an early interest in leadership, sports, and organizational development.

    Reid spent six years working with Life Time Fitness through its Ultimate Hoops program, gaining firsthand experience operating organized sports leagues, managing participants, and understanding how strong recreational communities are built.

    He later co-founded Vegan East, a vegan bakery that grew from a small cottage-law operation into a recognized regional business. Building the company required years of experimentation, problem-solving, and leadership development.

    Reid also founded Putt Craft, a competitive mini-golf league that explored new ways of organizing recreational sports through statistics, storytelling, and community-driven competition.

    These experiences, building businesses, operating leagues, and learning through real-world successes and failures, form the foundation of the Dream League Entrepreneurship & Leadership Program.

    The goal of the program is simple: to expose students to the mindset, discipline, and decision-making required to build things in the real world.