OUR STORY
The two serial entrepreneurs and longtime friends, Rob, and Christopher came together in early 2020 as the world was contracting and shutting down, while they were both expanding in their lives, views on the world and their role in it. They had both committed to living a life they never needed a vacation from, as a direct result of their entrepreneurial journeys, and together in a state of pure playfulness, a spark of creativity led to the birth of The Opportunity Collective.
The most impactful purpose that threaded their collaboration was the ultimate belief that alignment was the new hustle. No more sacrificing happiness, health, family, friends, spirit, and that ultimate serenity comes with the soul being completely in sync with internal and external experiences.
Truly connected to their mission, they began to explore how to invest their time, energy, experiences, and capital into impactful entrepreneurs and businesses. Under the theory that they received chances they never deserved, they decided to focus on creating the next generation of entrepreneurs who can in turn do the same for their people.
And one day it all clicked. Their mission was to create a more equitable society through entrepreneurship. Welcome to The Opportunity Collective.
OUR MISSION
We’re creating a more equitable society through entrepreneurship.
OUR VISION
We’ve co-created a synergistic, interdependent ecosystem of impact driven, visionary entrepreneurs measurably impacting the world every single day.
CORE VALUES
Community, Learning, Impact, Freedom, Experience
(C)ommunity
Create synergistic relationships within the ecosystem of the business that positively affect a far greater number of lives.
“He who masters the power formed by a group of people working together has within his grasp one of the greatest powers known to man.”
― Idowu Koyenikan
(L)earning
Seize every opportunity to learn. Mistakes are inevitable and learning is imperative.
“If you do big things, you make big mistakes.”
― Walt Disney
(I)mpact
Burn brightly, be a force for good, and fight every day to leave this world a better place.
“A person could waste an important part of his living if he refuses to come into significance; if he refuses to impact lives around, the family and in the community or in the society.”
― Sunday Adelaja
(F)reedom
Stand up and challenge every moment in this life to find emotional, physical, spiritual, and mental freedom.
“Everything can be taken from a man but… the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
― Victor Frankl
(E)xperience
Fierce determination to show up in a way that is imbued with kindness, support, empathy, compassion, and love.
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
― Maya Angelou
CORE VALUES
Community, Learning, Impact, Freedom, Experience
(C)ommunity
Create synergistic relationships within the ecosystem of the business that positively affect a far greater number of lives.
(L)earning
Seize every opportunity to learn. Mistakes are inevitable and learning is imperative.
(I)mpact
Burn brightly, be a force for good, and fight every day to leave this world a better place.
(F)reedom
Stand up and challenge every moment in this life to find emotional, physical, spiritual, and mental freedom.
(E)xperience
Fierce determination to show up in a way that is imbued with kindness, support, empathy, compassion, and love.
“He who masters the power formed by a group of people working together has within his grasp one of the greatest powers known to man.”
― Idowu Koyenikan
“If you do big things, you make big mistakes.”
― Walt Disney
“A person could waste an important part of his living if he refuses to come into significance; if he refuses to impact lives around, the family and in the community or in the society.”
― Sunday Adelaja
“Everything can be taken from a man but… the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
― Victor Frankl
“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
― Maya Angelou
ROB RYBERG, MBA
Co-Founder and Managing Partner
Rob Ryberg is a healthcare entrepreneur and investor with a primary focus on service and B2C businesses. For over a decade, Rob has been intimately involved in the financial and operational management of a diverse portfolio of businesses. Rob led an initiative to rapidly consolidate outpatient mental health facilities in the Midwest, which sold in 2017 to a premier private equity firm. His personal investment portfolio includes a commercial landscaping business, a retention wall and infrastructure business, three addiction treatment programs, a speech pathology business, real estate holdings, and a smaller portfolio of angel and searchfund investments.
Rob has held a variety of clinical and executive management roles in the behavioral healthcare industry, including CEO of an international non-profit, C4 Recovery Foundation. Prior to that he cofounded an industry leading financial and management consulting firm focused on the delivery of advisory consulting for strategic growth and development. Rob continues to provide expertise as a consultant for investors and owners in the healthcare space.
In addition to his BS in Legal Studies from Utah Valley University, Rob holds an MBA with a concentration in Entrepreneurship and Healthcare Management from The University of Arizona’s Eller College of Management. He is an active member of the Desert Angels, an angel-investing group based in Tucson, AZ. He has also been a member of the C4 Recovery Foundation board of directors since 2011 and the Boston based non-profit LEAD, Inc. since 2020. Rob splits his time between Crystal Lake, IL and Tucson, AZ, where he lives with his fiancé and two dogs.
CHRISTOPHER BENNETT
Co-Founder and Managing Partner
Christopher is a serial entrepreneur, meditation teacher, digital asset nerd, and strategic partner across a variety of businesses and industries. Chris’ extensive experience in the behavioral health space began as a front-line, entry level staff member at a treatment center for complex mental illness and co-occurring disorders in San Diego in early 2010. This role shaped not only a passion for helping others but his path into an industry that has changed his life. Since then, he has founded and exited two behavioral healthcare businesses.
In 2020, Christopher partnered with long-time friend, Rob Ryberg, to co-create The Opportunity Collective, an impact driven micro-equity firm creating a more equitable society through entrepreneurship. The Opportunity Collective provides strategic investments and partnerships to small and midsize businesses, invests passively in search funds through their fund, The Bonsai Fund, and actively invests in real estate. They are co-creating a synergistic, interdependent ecosystem of impact driven, visionary entrepreneurs measurably impacting the world every single day.
Absolutely blessed in every way, Christopher’s journey has been accelerated by failures, challenges and life giving him the opportunity to grow on the regular. His passion for consulting and strategic partnership is rooted in sharing his experiences, vulnerabilities and direct experience idealizing, evaluating, creating, executing, operating, scaling, and exiting businesses. His extensive leadership and founding experience across a variety of behavioral healthcare companies and his investing across industries provides for a direct-knowledge base highly sought after by founders, entrepreneurs, and business owners.
Christopher is currently traveling the globe, experiencing cultures around the world and living the nomadic lifestyle. Underlying all the travel and fullness of his life, he is a dedicated meditation practitioner and teacher humbly serving the traditional tantric hatha yoga lineage directly passed down over several thousand years from guru to student from the Himalayan Masters. When he’s not meditating, loving being present with his powerhouse girlfriend, his family or traveling, he can most likely be found solo backpacking and summiting a peak or two, racing cars, playing poker, or exploring the advances of digital assets, crypto currency, and blockchain technology. A true zest for life – and a passion for living all of it to the fullest.