The coolest young entrepreneurs

Digital generation

And having it today is a lot easier than it used to be. Technology is now the great enabler for all businesses, but Generation Y entrepreneurs have an added advantage: A lifetime of exposure to interactive digital devices has given them an enviable comfort with new technology and the ability to navigate and exploit the Internet intuitively.

Yes, they're starting exactly the kinds of businesses you'd expect: Sam Altman's company, Loopt, provides GPS tracking for mobile devices; Dave, Catherine and Geoff Cook launched myYearbook.com, a social-networking site for high schoolers; Will Pearson and Mangesh Hattikudur started a trivia magazine with a Web site that's an integral part of their brand.

• A closer look at the top 30: Young, smart and getting rich

But this year's honorees are also experts at using technology as a competitive tool to start and grow businesses in traditional industries: They sell shoes to tall women, bling to urban youths, houses to middle-market buyers, cookies to college students.

Count on them, too, to use blogging and social networking to boost brand awareness of their products and services. They're much more likely to rely on word of mouth and viral marketing than on traditional advertising and promotion. It works for them not just because they're wildly social animals but because they've grown up with the concepts of teamwork and collaboration.

Nothing illustrates that more succinctly than the number of partnerships in our "30 under 30" list: More than half of our young stars started their companies with one or more partners.

You might also note that these entrepreneurs are particularly savvy about serving the needs of their own generation. There are approximately 73 million people in Gen Y -- close to the number of baby boomers and far more than Generation X, which weighs in at around 50 million. That's a huge market filled with people whose buying habits and frames of reference are far different from previous generations. Their entrepreneurial peers are capitalizing on that by starting companies with a distinctly Generation Y point of view: Icedoutgear.com, Mental Floss magazine, Insomnia Cookies, myYearbook.com, InterviewStream and Mophie are all companies whose primary customer base is, like their founders, young.

The kids do value the old

But baby boomers, take heart: This is not an ageist generation. Some of the most successful "30 under 30" entrepreneurs realize that there's just no substitute for experience when it comes to growing a company, so they've brought on a few seasoned managers to help them navigate entrepreneurial waters.

Mophie's Ben Kaufman fired himself and hired a CEO in his 40s. Benjamin Sann runs BestParking.com with his stepfather. The three founders of Inogen all ceded senior management roles to their older investors.

The generational mix isn't always easy or comfortable, but it gives young companies gravitas, the kind of perspective on growth that might otherwise elude them for years, and the freedom to do what they do best: keeping their companies on the cutting edge of technology and market trends and, of course, conceiving ideas for more cool companies.

This article was reported and written by Donna Fenn for Inc.com.

Published Sept. 14, 2007

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