Met folks at Alameda County Entrepreneur Meetup Group & got some feedback / ideas for next steps. Working on contacting Paul Orfalea, Kinko's founder, (currently reading his inspiring autobiography Copy This!) and Howard Schultz.

Interestingly enough, came across this website in my research - similar to my idea for a network for programming dedicated to inspire others to realize their dreams..

http://www.myprimetime.com/