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Cool, Determined & Under 30

 

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.

Why He's One to Watch: Patzer, 27, has raised $17 million and gives one of the best elevator pitches around. "After 10 minutes, I said, 'I got it. I'm in,' " says Ram Shriram, a Mint.com investor who also backed Google (NASDAQ:GOOG). Patzer once demonstrated an early version of the site for venture capitalist Josh Kopelman using a battery-powered server that Patzer kept in the trunk of his car.

Employees: 25

Aaron Hall

Current Venture: Borrego Solar Systems, based in San Diego, designs and builds solar panels. CEO Hall was a baby in 1980 when the company was founded; in 2001, he wrote a turnaround plan for Borrego for a class at Northwestern. Borrego's owner (a family friend) then let Hall put it into effect.

Why He's One to Watch: In 2006, California pledged $3.3 billion to encourage residents to install solar panels on their roofs. Hall has six offices in the state and accepts energy tax rebates as partial payment. Revenue is set to hit $60 million.

Employees: 160

The Backstory: Hall, 29, learned strategy at the blackjack table. When he was in college, a friend of his father's paid Hall $10 an hour, plus 10 percent of the profits, to gamble with the friend's money.

Matt Brezina

Current Venture: Co-founded Xobni with Adam Smith (see previous page)

Employees: 16

 

The Backstory: The partners met in 2005, when Brezina, a grad student at the University of Maryland, posted a roommate ad on Craigslist, and Smith answered it. The two became friends, and Smith persuaded Brezina to help him launch Xobni. "I thought, I'm not liking grad school too much, and this girl just broke my heart, so I decided to change my life," says Brezina, 28.

On Being a Young CEO "Raising money is hard when you're in your 20s and you're asking for $3 million to $5 million when you've never managed more than $10,000 at a time."

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    • Donna Fenn

    Inc. contributing editor Donna Fenn is the author of Upstarts! How GenY Entrepreneurs are Rocking the World of Business and 8 Ways You Can Profit From Their Success (McGraw-Hill, 2009). Both this blog and the book examine the ways in which GenY is changing the entrepreneurial landscape with new approaches to starting, growing, and managing their companies. Learn more at http://www.upstartsrock.com/.


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