To further get the word out about the project and to connect with others who might have been able to help, I started a blog on Inc.com called "The Entrepreneurial Generation." I got multiple comments on most of the posts, some of which helped to shape my thinking for the book. My LinkedIn contacts were helpful as well. And lastly, I started tweeting on Twitter, the micro-blogging site that's become mind-bogglingly popular over the past year or so.
My goal was to speak with as many successful young CEOs as possible so that I could get at the heart of their entrepreneurial motivations, their success strategies and how they manage their companies. I've organized this book around the themes that emerged -- themes that I believe not only help to characterize an important and influential segment of this generation but also provide a roadmap to the future for all of us who are engaged in and care about the entrepreneurial economy. This is a highly collaborative generation whose proficiency with technology, brand awareness, and impatience with outmoded business models will give us a new crop of companies that look altogether different from the one we've admired in the past. And that goes for how they operate as well. In Upstart companies, there's often a clear social mission, rejection of traditional hierarchy, and the desire to make work meaningful and fun. So who exactly are these Upstarts? They are
1. Extreme collaborators. Forget the lone-wolf entrepreneur. Young entrepreneurs rarely go down the startup road alone but frequently team up with a partner or partners. They often start companies with friends, college classmates, professors, parents, or spouses. Upstarts know their limitations and seek out cofounders and investment partners who can compensate for their weaknesses and complement their strengths. Frequently, they also learn the pitfalls of partnerships. As they grow their companies, they continue to be highly collaborative, often drawing in teams of employees, their social networks, and groups of customers through community-based innovation tools that help them to develop new products and services.
2. Technology mavens. According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, GenY spends significantly more time that its older counterparts on the Internet and comprises 30 percent of all Internet users. However, while technology is the big differentiating factor for this generation of digital natives, don't assume that they're all starting Web-based companies. Some of them, of course, are in industries that didn't exist a couple of years ago. Witness, for example, the large number of small companies whose primary business is creating applications for Facebook. But Upstarts are just as likely to put their own tech-savvy stamp on more traditional businesses as well. Technology is not only the catalyst for innovative new products and services but also the key factor in the ability of Upstarts to differentiate their companies in crowded marketplaces, to breathe new life into family-owned firms, and to become significant players in mature, fragmented industries.
3. Game changers. Upstarts change the game by finding chinks in traditional or outmoded business models and the assumptions that go along with them. They might introduce cutting-edge technology to established industries, such as construction, demanding that their business partners adapt new systems of information sharing or best practices. A healthy disrespect for the status quo leads them to experiment fearlessly. They breath new life into old industries, such as package delivery and hotel services, by reimagining the supply chain, reinventing mature family businesses, and finding new ways to deliver traditional products and services to new niche markets.
4. Market insiders. Upstarts are in the catbird seat when it comes to serving the needs of a very large and wealthy market segment -- their 77 million peers in GenY. They already have annual incomes of $211 billion, and they spend $172 billion of it. Their buying habits are vastly different from those of previous generations. Upstart companies target college students with services such as moving and storage and laundry and cleaning; they create new social networking communities; they build brands that appeal to youth; and they put their own spin on traditional business concepts, such as personal finance and online dating. And increasingly, they even set up shop with the intention of selling their own GenY savvy to the companies that want to learn how to reach this important market segment.
5. Brand builders. Upstarts know how to build brands. From how they name their companies to how they market, sell, and produce their goods and services, GenY entrepreneurs embrace brand building as the key to setting themselves apart from the competition. Their distinctive brand personalities drive faster and broader market penetration, which helps them to generate national public relations and marketing buzz. Many even attract attention from large companies that may want to partner with them or even acquire their companies. Branding also gives them an edge when it comes to appealing to an enormously critical market segment -- their own brand-conscious peers in GenY.
