What's Next: Ciecko recently bought a large building in Holyoke, the mill town in which he grew up. He plans to develop the space into an art gallery, a music venue, and a business incubator.
On Being a Young CEO "When all my friends were getting ready to go back to school, I met with Mick Jagger to talk about his website. And I just had to laugh."
Gerard Craft
Current Venture: Niche, a St. Louis restaurant that will gross $2.6 million this year
Why He's One to Watch: Craft's penchant for experimentation can be seen in the menu, which features fried pig's head and lamb with white chocolate hummus. "He's a pioneer in terms of both food and location," says Dana Cowin, editor of Food & Wine magazine. "Niche has a minimal, modern feel, which might have been a risk in a historic St. Louis neighborhood. Its success is a tribute to how good the food is."
The Backstory: Craft dropped out of culinary school ("I never did well in the classroom -- I got bored") to work at a car wash and a pool hall. He eventually returned to the kitchen, first working a series of restaurant jobs and then raising Niche's seed money from his brother and parents.
Employees: 36
What's Next: Craft, 29, recently opened Veruca, a café and bakeshop, as a creative outlet for his pastry chef. He hopes to expand the business further: "I would love to see a brand of Niche with talented chefs that put out good food and make fine dining more approachable."
A Confession: "I'm dying to be on Iron Chef."
David Karp
Current Venture: Tumblr, based in New York City, has built an online community around a blogging tool that lets users post short entries, Web links, and music and video clips. The site's 400,000 members have a knack for generating buzz. Dating columnist Julia Allison parlayed her Tumblr posts into a deal to do a pilot reality show for NBC, for example.
Why He's One to Watch: At 15, Karp dropped out of Bronx Science to be homeschooled so he could work full time. At 17, he took a job as the community manager at a parenting website. He overhauled the message-board functions, and traffic skyrocketed. After that, he started Tumblr, which raised a small amount of VC money in 2007.
Employees: Three
What's Next: Tumblr plans to roll out a paid "pro" version of the application that has new content management features.
On Being a Young CEO "It's never quite clicked with me that I'm part of any particular age group," says Karp, 22. "I've always been hopping between age groups, and I've had a hard time picking up on where I fit in."
Matt Mullenweg
Current Ventures: WordPress.org, a nonprofit that makes open-source blogging software; and Automattic, a for-profit company that manages and customizes the WordPress software for clients such as News Corporation and CNN
Why He's One to Watch: Mullenweg, 24, turned down a $200 million offer for Automattic, opting instead to raise $29.5 million from The New York Times Company and two venture capital firms.
The Backstory: Mullenweg began building WordPress when he was 18, with the goal of making easy-to-use software that would "make your blog look really good -- and, ideally, even get you laid."
Employees: 29
On Being a Young CEO Early on, "it was kind of weird to be at a business party and be the only person who couldn't drink. I try to have a little facial hair so I look older."
Aaron Arnold
Current Venture: Music Is My Business, an Atlanta company that matches performers with marketers at clients such as Heineken and ESPN and produces original music and animation
Why He's One to Watch: Chris Brown's recent hit "Forever" -- which doubled as a Wrigley jingle -- has stoked marketers' interest in wrapping slogans around song lyrics. Arnold, 29, who worked as an unpaid intern for Sean "Diddy" Combs at Bad Boy Entertainment, is taking advantage of the trend.
Employees: Two
The Backstory: Combs repaid his former intern by supplying Bad Boy's Danity Kane to perform at a concert sponsored by ESPN, Arnold's first client. "My first check came from Puff," he says.
Nate Alder
Current Venture:
Klymit, in Ogden, Utah, is designing a technology to adjust the temperature of cold-weather gear like ski jackets and tents by pumping argon or another harmless gas into the lining, just as cold-water divers rely on tanks of argon to stay warm.
Why He's One to Watch: Alder, 27, has won $200,000 at collegiate business-plan competitions, and he is partnering with Descente, a sports gear company, on a product field test.
Employees: Three
The Backstory: Alder came up with the idea while on a diving trip to Brazil. Before launching Klymit, he admits, he knew little about basic chemistry. "I thought argon was just a character in The Lord of the Rings," he jokes.
Adam Smith
Current Venture: Smith co-founded Xobni with Matt Brezina (see next page); the company's software organizes the information contained in a Microsoft Outlook e-mail account to make it easier to search.
Why He's One to Watch: At a developers' conference last February, Bill Gates hailed the San Francisco start-up as "the next generation of social networking." Some 14,000 people with Microsoft corporate e-mail addresses use the software, and Microsoft has even reportedly made an offer to buy the company. For Smith, a 23-year-old MIT graduate, Microsoft's interest is especially meaningful. "Bill Gates was a hero of mine," he says. "When I was a teenager, I sent him a logic puzzle to solve." Gates didn't complete it, but his office sent Smith a nice thank-you letter.
Aaron Patzer
Current Venture: Mint.com, based in Mountain View, California, helps 450,000 users organize bank accounts, credit card statements, and investment information. The site suggests ways to save money on fees by selecting another credit card or brokerage account; banks pay Mint.com for the referrals.
