Raising Entrepreneurs

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Author Donna Fenn shares her insights into Gen Y entrepreneurs – their strengths and weaknesses.

Ypulse: What are some of the recurring themes you’ve seen among Gen Y entrepreneurs?

Donna Fenn: I think there are several recurring themes and Upstarts is organized around eight of them. This generation of entrepreneurs is fundamentally different from their older counterparts. Their use of technology is very important, of course, and that’s the first thing that people typically mention about them. But I think that misses the most important point about this generation, which is that they are, first and foremost, highly collaborative – I call them “Extreme Collaborators.” They’re accustomed to team work and I see that in the way they start and grow their companies. It isn’t just that they tend to start companies with partners, but also that they draw upon a huge pool of resources that just weren’t available to older entrepreneurs – college professors who teach entrepreneurship courses (a relatively new phenomenon), parents who are supportive of their entrepreneurial ventures, older entrepreneurs who are willing to mentor and sometimes invest in them. So these resources are readily available and Gen Y entrepreneurs are eager to use them. They’re not afraid to say “I don’t know how to do this; help me.” I think that previous generations prized the romantic image of the “lone wolf entrepreneur.” But the world has changed and Gen Y intuitively understands the power of collaboration and collective knowledge. And yes, they know how to use technology to harness that power. But it’s important to remember that technology is a tool.

YP: How will the economic downturn affect existing and future millennial-run startups?

DF: We’ve seen increases in business startups during the last two recessions and I think this recession will be no exception. In light of massive corporate layoffs, not to mention decreasing levels of trust in large corporations, I think we may see a record number of startups in the coming months. And I think Millennials will lead the way. Because they’re young and relatively unburdened by the financial obligations of their parents’ generation, they’re great at bootstrapping. They don’t mind eating Top Ramen and sleeping on a futon at the office. Recession startups are typically bootstrapped startups, and not companies that need significant amounts of investment capital right out of the starting gate. I don’t think capital has completely dried up, but it’s wildly difficult to get in the current economic environment.

As for existing millennial run companies, I do think that they have a remarkable ability to be agile and flexible and to react quickly to market changes. Their expertise with technology allows them to operate leanly and efficiently. That’s all critically important when money is tight. But in the final analysis, they’re in the same boat as everyone else. They’ll need to find creative ways to cut back expenses, create value for their customers, and differentiate themselves in the marketplace. If they can do that while their competitors are going under, they’ll be well-positioned for success when the economy recovers.

YP: How do Gen Y entrepreneurs differ from entrepreneurs from previous generations?

DF:I think it all starts with, as I mentioned above, collaboration and their use of technology. But there are other notable differences. I’ve noticed that GenY entrepreneurs are more likely to have some sort of social mission right out the gate. Like Tom Szaky, they’re “Social Capitalists.” While older entrepreneurs tend to wait until their companies are established and profitable, young entrepreneurs often want to make a commitment to a social mission right away. For instance, Happy Baby Food pledges to feed a child in Malawi for a day for every package sold. This generation wants to change the world and they’re using entrepreneurship to do it.

Also, I think Gen Y really understands the power of brands and is creating some memorable ones, sometimes in industries that we don’t think of “brandable.” Yes, we’ve got The Hundreds and Johnny Cupcakes – fabulous GenY brands. But there’s also Sittercity, a brilliantly branded web-based company that matches babysitters with families; and Meathead Movers, which uses its employees – mostly college athletes – to distinguish its company from its many competitors.

Gen Y entrepreneurs are also what I call “Workplace Renegades.” Typically, they reject traditional, hierarchical workplaces in favor of more participative, flexible, meritocratic corporate cultures. That doesn’t mean people don’t work hard at their companies; in fact work and life appear to be a kind of 24-7 mash up. They’re treating their employees the way they want to be treated: they’re training them; they’re making the office fun and engaging; they’re providing frequent feedback and meaningful incentives. Frankly, I think Gen Y entrepreneurs and employees are giving us all a new definition of work.

Read the full interview on YPulse.

12-YEAR-OLD Robert Moon was chosen on Thursday night to receive the biggest award of cash and services at the Young Entrepreneurs Academy’s annual investors event at the University of Rochester. He asked for $1,280 to give his company, The Alert Mind, a boost, and the judges awarded him cash and in-kind services valued at $3,800.

Robert is in seventh grade at Calkins Road Middle School. When he was a sixth-grader and Ann Shelp was his math teacher, he created a project for her class, a board game designed to teach and reinforce basic math skills. Grid Greed — “an exciting game to sharpen your mathematical skills” — was born.

The teacher was impressed and encouraged Robert to think about marketing the game. Thanks to the Young Entrepreneurs Academy, the young man is on his way to doing precisely that.

One of the neat things about Grid Greed is that it’s more than a teaching tool for children. It could prove useful for geezers (the term will suit me sooner than I’d like) who need mental exercises to retain an alert mind. In fact, Robert has tried it on a much older friend, a retired business executive with whom he regularly plays chess.

Next up, Robert will use the money he won at UR to have 100 copies of the board game produced, and then he’ll begin marketing it to schools and retirement communities in the Rochester area.

Young Mr. Moon wasn’t the only winner at Thursday’s program. Eighteen other presenters — some individuals, some teams — received at least $500 each in cash and services.

The Young Entrepreneurs Academy is a nine-month program at UR (there also are Rochester-area YEA programs at SUNY Geneseo and in the Greece and Victor school districts) that helps students in grades 6 through 12 create their own business. At the weekly three-hour sessions, students learn from guest speakers and business mentors and visit local workplaces. Participants in this year’s class at UR come from both city and suburban schools.

It’s impressive how many businesses, government agencies and nonprofits recognize that nurturing a future generation of business leaders is a smart thing to do.

Young entrepreneur Ben Behrouzi

The moment Behnam Behrouzi saw his first computer as a teenager, he was hooked.

Then he heard descriptions of the “Information Superhighway,” and he became a dreamer.

“The ideas just began to click the moment I was introduced to the Internet,” said Behrouzi, who lives in Danville. “I dug into all the possibilities that surrounded it right away, and I loved it.”

Now 28, Behrouzi has started over 20 businesses. His latest venture, Pleasanton-based DotNext, helps create Internet companies.

“There are still a tremendous number of ideas out there that need to be developed,” he said. “My job is to help turn the best ones into something people will use.”

The search engine LeapFish is a recent creation to come out of DotNext.

Some people think Leapfish is an attempt to sink Google, the leading search engine, but Behrouzi insists that’s not the case. The note, “It’s OK, you’re not cheating on Google,” tries to underline Behrouzi’s point.

“I’m not naive in that I think people are going to drop Google,” he said. “It’s just some people are going to like what LeapFish has to offer better.”

The purpose of LeapFish is to serve as a one-stop site where people can be exposed to not only the sites a Google, Yahoo or MSN might find, but also images, videos, news and blogs they might not know are out there.

“If a person searches for a celebrity on LeapFish, they might find a video on them that they normally wouldn’t have seen,” he said.Behrouzi has helped build more than 20 Internet companies. Besides LeapFish, others include Reply.com and iMotors.

For Behrouzi, being the head of a successful company in the Bay Area is a remarkable story. Especially when he considers the path taken to get there.

Born in Iran, Behrouzi and his family were forced out of the country because of “vicious” religious persecution when he was about 4.

“If I hadn’t left, I wouldn’t have had much of an opportunity to get higher in my life,” he said. “Life would have been made very difficult for me.”

Smuggled at night, he traveled for several days through the desert to Pakistan.

“We could hear gunshots everywhere,” he said. “It was an ugly period in my life, but we got through it.”

After about a year in Pakistan, they found people they knew from Alaska, and when he was 6, the family came to the United States. Eventually, they came to California and settled in Modesto.

Then, his life changed at about 15, when he was exposed to the Internet.

Instead of paper routes or working for a small business, Behrouzi immediately looked for an opportunity to make money through the Web.

“I just knew that I wanted to start a business that people would want,” he said.

His first Web-based endeavor was an online coupon business he ran from a modem in his bedroom. It was a simple concept where businesses signed up and could put menus, graphics and coupons online.

Often Behrouzi would go to school in a coat and tie so he could set up meetings with businesses during lunch.

“I tried to look as spiffy as I could so I could pull off 17 or 18, even though I was 15 or 16,” he said.

Behrouzi moved to San Ramon his senior year in high school and went to UC Davis, where he started to create companies such as Reply.

“I would start up one company, and then another idea would come up, and I’d start another,” he said. “I enjoyed the sense that I was building things.”

Behrouzi won’t disclose his net worth, but he says he put $2 million of his own money into the launch of DotNext.

Behrouzi realizes his life’s path hasn’t been conventional. But he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I’ve had my successes and I’ve had my failures, but you need both of those to keep your life in forward motion,” he said. “I guess that’s what makes me a serial entrepreneur.”

Read the full story in Inside Bay Area

Young entrepreneur Ryan Smith

An area artist is making a name for himself as he shares his craft with people around the community.

From an idea to a sketch on a piece of paper, his work has gone from coast to coast.  This young entrepreneur is working well beyond his years.

Ryan Smith is still in high school.  Despite the economy, more young artists are taking a chance with their work and finding success along the way.

Smith is making a living from right inside his own apartment.

“I kind of wanted to shake things up and break the mold,” he said.

Smith, 18, is a senior at Hillcrest and trying to finish high school — all while running a business he started two years ago.

“I didn’t want to be the average kid anymore.  Because, I really didn’t find anything impressive about being the average kid that does everything by the book,” said Smith.

Smith’s clothing line uses his own trade mark design and is now being sold in a handful of states.

“But I didn’t get into the clothing line for the money.  I’ve actually released a hat before, I actually didn’t really make money off of it, but when I get people saying ‘oh, I saw this kid wearing your trucker hat,’ it was, that was worth it,” he said.

Leaders with the Springfield Regional Arts Council says local artist, like Smith are getting younger and younger.

“Young people aren’t as inhibited, especially if they haven’t been at home.  They are more adventurous.  I would say, they’re more daring and they don’t have the inhibition an older person has, the fear of failure, and the fear of success.  They don’t have that yet so, they’re willing to just go out there and do it,” said Sandra CH Smith, executive director of the Springfield Regional Arts Council.

In recent years, the council has beefed up its programs just to help young artist express themselves while helping them with their studies.

“The arts help kids with Math, English, Science because it opens that side of the brain and so the kids do better on their math tests — if they have an art class of some sort,” he said.

Through his company’s website, Smith says he gets a lot of requests for not only his clothes, but his other work.

He draws, paints, shoots video and is a photographer.  So he stays pretty busy.  If you would like to check out his work just head over to www.rottix.com

When Smith graduates from high school, he eventually wants to move his business out of his apartment and into a real studio where he can have more space to create his clothes and other art work.

Source: Ozarks First

Young entrepreneurs Annaka Roscoe, Justin Lenehan, Maggie Abbott and Molly Bowes.

Annaka Roscoe stands with her homemade picture frames, Justin Lenehan poses with his treasure boxes, Maggie Abbott holds her creation of flip flop hooks and Molly Bowes presents her original idea of a Swail.

PHOTO BY LAUREN KENNEDY

Nine year-old Madie Parker shows off her dog treats that she made on her own.

PHOTO BY LAUREN KENNEDY

Lukas Calhoun flies his homemade wooden airplane

PHOTO BY LAUREN KENNEDY

He’s getting his money’s worth. David McLean supports young entrepreneurs and buys a dragster from Lukas Calhoun.

These are a few of the creative products that the youngsters in Grades 3 to 5 came up with during a March Break camp for young entrepreneurs run by Enterprise Carleton.

Molly Bowes was one of the many budding future business owners at the Woodstock Farm Market on Friday morning. She was attempting to sell her original idea, called a Swail to potential customers.

“A Swail is a stuffed animal that I made up. I just thought of the idea one day and thought it was a good one,” said Bowes.

From stuffed animals to dog treats that even humans can eat, these kids thought of it all.

Young entrepreneur Madie Parker

Nine-year-old Madie Parker came up with the idea of dog treats for dogs of all sizes, and if a customer wanted, they could take the hand-painted box the treats came in with them … for a price of course.

“I got a dog treat cookbook and thought that maybe not very many people would know how to make dog treats, so I decided to try it out, ” said Parker. “And even people can eat them because I made them with all natural ingredients.”

Katie Goodine is the youth officer for Enterprise Carleton and couldn’t help but have a smile on her face as she watched the youngsters sell their products to customers.

This is the second time that Goodine has been involved in this type of camp such as this and says she would love to continue with programs such as this.

“It’s been a great week with lots of hard work and fun and it makes it all worth while when the kids come here today and put what they learned into practice,” she said.

Goodine partnered with Joanne Boone, the community co-ordinator for Southern Carleton Elementary School and together they made the camp a great learning experience for the kids.

“The kids learn a lot about business skills like how to run their own business, know how to write a business plan. They met with a loan officer, and took out loans in order to start up their businesses and also learned about profit and loss and how to deal with customers,” said Boone. “Something like this gives them good people skills and gives them a spot to have a creativity outlet, which is huge.”

Young entrepreneur Lukas Calhoun

Lukas Calhoun is the proud creator of what he deems a “one of a kind dragster.”

“I got the model from a kit and the dragsters can even move on their own, it’s a special feature,” said Calhoun.

Not only did Calhoun says he was having fun he really enjoyed selling his product to customers.

“It’s a great time,” he said.

Goodine hopes that when the camp is all said and done, that the kids will be able to take some of the skills that they learned and hang onto them for life.

“I’m hoping that the entrepreneurial experience sticks with them and they can take that away with them,” she said.

She explained that a lot of the kids had the experience of making their own products before and gave the example of one girl who made jewelry before and decided to stick with that and sell her jewelry as a product.

“I hope that now that they realize how easy it is to make their own products, they’ll be able to take that away with them,” said Goodine.

Both Goodine and Boone agree that while the week with the kids has been exhausting, it was all worth it to see them come out on top of the business world and showcase their talents.

Source: Bugle Observer