How a College Student Built the Disney FastPass for Bars

At just 23 years old, Ethan Karian is already chasing a vision he’s had since childhood: building a company that disrupts an entire industry. Raised by two entrepreneurs and inspired by the lessons of Think and Grow Rich, Ethan shares how years of self-education, early business failures, and relentless ambition led him to create SipSkip, a hospitality technology platform transforming the way people order drinks at bars, festivals, and stadiums.

In this episode of Living Your Legacy, Ethan reveals the moment the idea struck him at a crowded LSU bar, why he abandoned another business to go all-in on SipSkip, and how he approaches entrepreneurship with a fail fast mindset. Along the way, he shares powerful lessons about belief, resilience, team building, innovation, and creating something so simple that competitors struggle to improve upon it.

Key Takeaways

• Why failing fast gives entrepreneurs a competitive advantage

• How childhood exposure to entrepreneurship shaped his mindset

• Why self-education can accelerate success beyond traditional learning

• The importance of pivoting when a bigger opportunity appears

• How simplicity can become a company's greatest competitive advantage

Notable Quotes

• “I knew since I was a young kid that I wanted to found a company that was going to disrupt an industry and change the world.”

• “When I came up with SipSkip, I was doing another company at the time. I said, this one's it.”

• “The idea was create something so simple, so seamless that there would be no better way.”

• “Fail quick and fail fast.”

• “Anything is possible as long as you want it bad enough and are willing to work for it.”