America's Best Young Entrepreneurs: 2007

America's Best Young Entrepreneurs: 2007

by Nick Leiber
Friday, November 2, 2007provided by

The credit crunch notwithstanding, it's a heady time for young
entrepreneurs starting new businesses in the U.S. The Web, a constant
in most young Americans' lives, makes it cheaper than ever to get
going, there's plenty of encouragement in the form of twentysomething
role models such as Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg,
and a wide array of entrepreneurship programs are available across the
country. Plus, running your own business is considered cooler than ever."Millenials
in particular want to be able to control their own destinies, and
entrepreneurship allows them to do this," says David Galbinski, the
chairman-elect of Entrepreneurs' Organization,
a 6,600-member networking group for business owners whose businesses'
yearly revenues exceed $1 million. The number of EO members in the
18-to-35-year-old age group has more than tripled since 2001, to 3,356,
and Galbinski expects entrepreneurship to become increasingly
attractive to young people.[Click here to see the list of top entrepreneurs under 25]
That's also the consensus among this year's crop of finalists in our third annual BusinessWeek
contest to discover America's most promising young entrepreneurs. This
summer, we asked readers to nominate candidates age 25 and under who
were running their own companies. Our goal was to find businesses that
show potential for growth and establish the talent of the savvy young
people behind them. More from BusinessWeek.com:

• Best Young Entrepreneurs of 2007

• See What Happened to the Best of 2006

• Big-Buck Contests for Entrepreneurs
Immigrant Offspring Aim High

When the call for nominations ended earlier this fall, our editors and
reporters sifted through the impressive talent pool and narrowed the
selection down to 25 finalists.We also reached out to last year's finalists to see where they are now and how far each has come over the past year.Although
it's no surprise that most of this year's finalists are building
businesses around the Web, a sprinkling has broken into more
traditional sectors such as publishing, manufacturing, and investment
banking. Bryan Sims, 24, dropped out of college and devoted his energy
to developing his startup,
Brass Media, into a profitable enterprise after he learned his parents
had to file for bankruptcy. Today his company delivers its quarterly
print magazine (its mission is to make money relevant to young people)
to about 450,000 readers, and Sims says it has been in the black since
the beginning of 2006.Shawn Liu, 25, is the son of Taiwanese
immigrants. He watched his father ditch his job to start an ink
business out of the garage. Liu spent two years working at the Federal Reserve before starting a custom shirtmaking business, which he estimates will have revenues of $1.2 million next year.More Women-Owned Businesses

Both 24, Francesco DeParis and Kyle Redinger co-founded a boutique
investment bank that specializes in mergers-and-acquisitions advice for
small tech firms. Redinger says the business has found a niche advising
$10 million to $20 million deals that traditional Wall Street firms wouldn't normally touch.Then
there are the Web-based ventures. The challenge of getting a restaurant
reservation at the last minute was the impetus for Gabriel Erbst, 24,
the co-founder of TableXChange, to start his online marketplace for
restaurant reservations. The business takes a 12% cut of each
transaction and is gaining popularity, though it got its share of
criticism from bloggers and local foodies when it launched in June.
"We're huge food enthusiasts, so it was great to leave our banking jobs
and devote ourselves to this full time," says Erbst. "It's thrilling to
be in control."The biggest differences among this year's
nominees compared with last year's? There are more women-owned
businesses, a handful had already attracted venture funding, and many
were already reporting a profit.From Russia to the Rag Trade

Receiving more women nominees was encouraging. That's because young
women start fewer businesses than their male counterparts, according to
the results of a 2006 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor,
which showed that the percent of women entrepreneurs starting new
businesses was only 7.8%, while the percent of men was 20.4% in the 25-
to 34-year-old age group.Babson College professor and co-director of the group that compiles the annual report,
Elaine Allen, PhD, says the discrepancies are due in part to the
"socialization effect" in the U.S. "[Women] are just not as
aggressive," she says. Allen says the same pattern emerges in the 2007
report, which is set to be released in January, though young
entrepreneurs age 18 to 34 continue to start more businesses than any
other age group in the U.S.Sarah Schupp, 25, is one of the
finalists who's defying the numbers. Her profitable business,
University Parent, produces free, downloadable guides for parents
visiting their kids at college. Schupp, who expects revenues of
$800,000 in 2007, attributes her success in part to an innovative
publishing model in which her university partners are responsible for
content and distribution while she handles advertising.Some Finalists Are Already in the Black

Another woman forging her own path is Russian native Polina
Raygorodskaya, 21, who began her fashion production-services businesses
after being approached to produce a fashion event by a contact from her
New York
modeling days. She now juggles her business with six classes at Babson
College and is planning a major event that she claims could shake up
the fashion industry and bring in about $2 million in revenues.It
wasn't surprising that a handful of this year's finalists, who run
businesses that range from mobile social networking platforms to online
advertising services, had received venture funding before they were
nominated. Seed and early stage investing had the strongest quarter
since 2001 in both the number of deals and dollars invested, with
venture capitalists pumping $1.6 billion into 378 deals in the second
quarter of 2007, according to the quarterly MoneyTree Report by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Assn.Finalists already showing a profit
were another sign that this year's crop would be worth watching well
into the future. Perhaps one of the most impressive is marketing firm
Tatto, founded by Lin Miao, 20, and brothers Lee and Lucas Brown, both
23, while students at Babson College with a $100 investment. According
to Miao, Tatto's revenues are $25 million for 2007 and he expects them
to double to $50 million in 2008. Entrepreneur(s) Company Company Description Sam Altman and Nick Sivo (Loopt) Loopt Business that allows users to locate friends on a map via cell phone or Web site Ubong Attah Studio10Fourteen and Prolete Medical Billing Web design firm and medical billing management Tyler Barnett and Jason Ellman Barnett Ellman Public-relations firm which works with businesses targeting young consumers Lee Brown, Lucas Brown, and Lin Miao Tatto Using proprietary technology, builds inexpensive online marketing campaigns Vincent Choi, Deborah Umunnabuike, and Jessica Umunnabuike Avant Gaudy Online vintage clothing shop Mitch Cohen ClixConnect Helps online retailers improve customer service on their Web sites Max Crane, Tyler Dikman, David McIntosh, and Darian Shirazi Redux Software application allows users to aggregate chat accounts Francesco DeParis and Kyle Redinger DeParis Redinger Boutique investment bank that specializes in mergers-and-acquisitions advisory for small tech firms Max Durovic and Michael Kenny Aarrow Advertising Athletic routines that involve manipulating six-foot-long arrow-shaped advertisements Gabriel Erbst, Will Geronimo, and Dwight Lee TableXChange Online marketplace to buy and sell restaurant reservations Eugene Fernandez and Richard Scalesse Unique Squared Audio equipment online retail shop Ashutosh Gupta Gupta Financial Consulting Management consulting for small businesses Ben Keighran Bluepulse Free mobile social messaging platform Jake Kloberdanz Hope Wine Winery that gives 50% of the profits from sales of its wines to charity Jasmine Lawrence Eden Body Works All-natural hair care products Shawn Liu Hillhouse Tailors Bespoke clothing company which sells men's dress shirts made in Shanghai Amit Nar A Better Night's Sleep Center to test and treat sleep disorders such as apnea, insomnia, and narcolepsy Arun Parameswaran and Arjun Parameswaran Astutant Group Tax and accounting services for small- and midsize businesses Polina Raygorodskaya Polina Fashion Fashion production services business Ashley Reed ASR Clothing Custom-designed line of streetwear hoodies, jeans, and T-shirts Sarah Schupp University Parent Produces institution-specific visitor guides in partnership with universities Rishi Shah Flying Cart Media Gives small-business owners a way to sell their products online Bryan Sims Brass Media Publisher of custom magazines Nathaniel Stevens Yodle Advertising services company that serves local businesses Alex Tchekmeian AKT Enterprises Music industry merchandising, Web development, and online ticketing services Click here to learn more about these entrepreneurs and vote for your favorites.
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