The Pirate of Innovation: Mike Smith’s Mission to Redefine Youth Spaces

This mission is embodied in The Bay, an initial indoor skatepark turned into a youth empowerment hub, launched in 2010 by Mike Smith, a true visionary who doesn't just dream big, but acts with contagious passion.

 Settled in Nebraska, USA, Mike envisions scaling his meaningful project across Nebraska, other American states, and even worldwide. His journey led him to the “Scaling for Success” program at HEC Paris, an experience that validated his audacious vision and charted a course for new opportunities.

MIKE SMITH: A PIONEER SERVING YOUTH

Mike Smith is no ordinary entrepreneur. 15 years ago, he founded The Bay, a non-profit organization that is reinventing spaces dedicated to youth. Picture this: a gigantic warehouse the size of a Walmart or a three-story parking garage transformed into places of innovation and growth for young people. The Bay, present in Lincoln, Nebraska, offers spaces where skate culture, art, music, fashion, content creation, innovation, and entrepreneurship meet.

But Mike's story doesn't start there. For the first 11 years of The Bay, he was one of the world's largest youth motivational speakers, addressing millions of kids in thousands of places, including prestigious international schools. “I had the opportunity to speak in a lot of really cool places to share how I started something from nothing: I basically tore down a barn and built a skatepark,” remembers Mike.

His journey is deeply rooted in action and perseverance as he also raised funds by skateboarding across the entire state of Nebraska, – three separate times – an impressive distance of 420 miles in a week!

His determination and authentic connection with young people are at the heart of everything he does. As he so aptly puts it:

 I work for the kids, they are our customers, and we need to listen to them.

This philosophy led him to transform The Bay into a space open late at night and, more surprisingly, to create a public high school within The Bay itself. Bay High is a focus program run in partnership with Lincoln Public Schools. Dedicated to high school juniors and seniors, it provides creative, entrepreneurial-minded students with the tools, access, and resources to be the successful creators of tomorrow.

The story of The Bay keeps on going. “One day,” Mike recalls, “One of our graduates told me: ‘Hey, I went to The Bay, I stayed out of trouble, I did everything you said, but I don't have any skills. I need to learn.’” That’s how Mike realized that The Bay needed to teach these kids skills. This is how their Gap Year program emerged, designed for 18-24 year olds not enrolled in college to offer them both job skills and future prospects. “We've seen so many success stories of kids starting a business, going to college, getting a job, or even achieving a combination of the three!” Building on his experience, Mike realized the impact of The Bay could radiate far beyond Lincoln, Nebraska.

‘SCALING FOR SUCCESS’: A QUEST FOR GROWTH AND IMPACT

After 15 years of success and The Bay’s upcoming announcement of their massive new facility in Omaha, Nebraska, – scheduled for 2027, Mike Smith found himself at a decisive stage: how to move from growth to true scaling. He didn't just want to add employees and increase his budget; he was looking for a model that would allow him to develop The Bay without having to bear all the responsibility himself.

 It was this ambition that led him to seek out the best executive education program in the world, and his choice fell on HEC Paris Executive Education program, which he identified as number one. His motivation was clear: “I really wanted to be around the smartest in the world.” Mike was also eager to come to Europe to build connections to the rest of the world, and use them as a launchpad to open new doors.

Mike perceived the Scaling for Success Program as a unique opportunity to see if his idea made sense on a grand scale, and subject it to the critical scrutiny of world-renowned experts. He even admitted to choosing this program partly for the pitch contest, seeing it as an invaluable chance to confront his idea with sharp minds. His determination could not have been more serious: 

I wasn’t looking for a grade. I treated every day as a job, not a class.

KEY LEARNINGS FROM THE SCALING FOR SUCCESS PROGRAM

“I can't speak highly enough of my experience at HEC Paris. I loved it!” Knowing he was “going to have incredible professors” to quote him, Mike didn’t want to waste the opportunity. He convinced professors to have lunch with him, he would stay after class to ask questions, and he would speak to every fellow participant about his project. This perseverance helped him test his scaling model and be well prepared for the pitch contest too. 

Testing His Scaling Model

Through the program, Mike managed to confront his concept of a federated model, inspired by organizations like the YMCA and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. The idea is to offer a kind of ‘franchise for non-profits’, where each site would operate autonomously while benefiting from centralized support and The Bay brand. His innovative project is to integrate The Bay within new school constructions, thereby creating community centers that are easily accessible to students and teachers. He explains: “When you build a new school, instead of just opening a school, you could attach The Bay or something similar onto the building, and then let the school use it as a resource.” He realized that giving teachers access to these innovation spaces during the day could revitalize public education, often criticized for its lack of innovation. 

Pitching Skills Revisited

Mike discovered that “There is a lot of good that can come from putting yourself in an environment where you're forced to sort of pitch and present your project”, he states. Despite his natural ease in pitching, Mike acknowledges that the program helped him structure his presentation more effectively, which led him to win the pitch contest! The time constraint forced him to simplify his message and get straight to the point. He learned valuable lessons from analyzing successful pitch decks, such as Airbnb's.

One of the most striking pieces of feedback he received from a Venture Capitalist was to have an ego and an unwavering belief in his project. Mike recalls her words. She said: “‘You have a massive ego.’ I had a big hat on, and I said, ‘Yeah, it's the size of my hat.’ But then, she turned to the class and said: ‘If you're going to do this, if you're going to pitch your idea and believe in it, you have to have an ego about this, and believe it like he believes it, because if you don't believe it, then no one else is going to believe it.” 

Finding His Leadership Style

Another fundamental concept discussed during the program was that of ‘Crossing the Chasm’ by Jeffrey Moore. This idea highlights the difference between the personality and skills needed to launch an innovative project and those required to maintain and scale it. Mike identified himself as a ‘lunatic who was meant to captain a pirate ship’: someone who excels in inspiration and creation, rather than in the rigid management of a ‘tight ship’. This realization was an important revelation for his scaling strategy. 

Broadening The Bay’s Horizons

Learning and meeting experts was the icing on the cake, as he recalls: “Denisa Mindruta, the Academic Director of the program, is just amazing, and I feel like I met so many people from around the world and had very interesting chats with them.” Mike is grateful that he was able to share his idea in a totally different part of the world, as he was the only US American in the cohort. His time at HEC Paris, talking with people from Europe or Saudi Arabia opened his eyes to the global potential of The Bay, perceived as a relevant solution to the challenges faced by young people and their parents, as he so rightly observed during the program. “In most countries, kids leave school at 3 PM, parents leave work at 5 PM. There's no place for kids to go after school”, Mike states, “And so it was very interesting for me to hear everyone say: ‘I want this for my kids’ or ‘Gosh, this would change our community.’”

Next Steps for The Bay: Be Part of the Project

Right now, the priority for Mike is the opening of The Bay’s new facility in Omaha in 2027, an ambitious project that will include a skatepark designed by the world renowned skatepark builders at California Skateparks. At the same time, Mike is determined to develop the federated model to extend the impact of The Bay to other communities. He is convinced that this model, just like the YMCA, will allow for sustainable growth and a significant impact in many communities.

Following his enriching experience at HEC Paris, Mike is more ready than ever to make The Bay a global movement. His enthusiasm is palpable, and his call to those who wish to shape the future of education resonates strongly: “If you or anyone is interested in shaping and changing the way education looks around the world, hit me up. 

I would love to see if anybody reading this is inspired to start something like The Bay. I would love to have that conversation.

 Message passed on…

If you have a great project, and would like to successfully scale it, join the next Scaling for Success cohort, starting December 9th, 2025.