Elliott Bisnow

My Story

I'm an American entrepreneur and for 20 years I’ve been building businesses.

Sarara Camp

I’m a partner in Sarara, which manages four of the best safari lodges in Kenya. We manage more than 1 million acres of wilderness and support the Samburu community who own this land and co-exist with the wildlife. Join us and visit Reteti Elephant Sanctuary and the 30+ baby elephants that live there.

National Geographic-Lindblad Expeditions (NASDAQ: LIND)

Since 2017, I've been on the board of National Geographic-Lindblad Expeditions. We have a fleet of 20+ ships exploring the planet's most fascinating places and offer 100 itineraries across every continent, all in partnership with National Geographic.  We also own iconic travel companies including Duvine Cycling Co, Natural Habitat Adventures, and White Desert.

Powder Mountain (acquired)

From 2013 to 2023, I co-owned Powder Mountain Ski Resort in Eden, Utah. This was quite the journey and in 2023 we sold Powder Mountain to Netflix founder Reed Hastings.

Summit Series (acquired)

I'm best known as the founder of Summit Series, which I started in 2008, when I was 22 years old. It feels hard to believe that the first event was only 19 people.  Since Summit started, we’ve hosted hundreds of events including Summit at Sea, Summit Outside, Summit Tulum, Summit Mountain Series & Summit LA. Summit Series was acquired by events.com in 2025.

Bisnow Media (acquired)

At 20 (two years before starting Summit) I joined my dad as the first employee and co-founder of Bisnow Media. My dad was working from our family home and I was in my college dorm room. We bootstrapped the business without raising any money, growing it into North America's largest commercial real estate media and events company. Today, Bisnow, is owned by Axel Springer, the global media conglomerate whose portfolio includes Business Insider and Politico.

Peak Street Management

In 2016, I founded Peak Street Management, an investment company with no outside capital and currently manage more than 50 investments in startups, mature businesses and investment funds.

That's my story! You can read the best parts in a book I co-wrote with my Summit co-founders, "Make No Small Plans."