NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In the 2011 America’s Top Colleges Issue, Forbes introduces eight young student entrepreneurs who launched their own businesses while in college, plus Ernestine Fu, Silicon Valley’s youngest venture capitalist, who is featured on the Forbes cover. This is the first-ever Forbes All-Star Student Entrepreneurs team.
On July 12, 2011 the Forbes’ All-Star Student Entrepreneurs were invited to Round Rock, Texas for a roundtable discussion with Michael Dell, Chairman and CEO of Dell, and Forbes Executive Editor Michael Noer. Excerpts of the roundtable discussion, video testimonials and profiles of the students can be found at http://www.forbes.com/special-features/forbes-college-all-stars.html
"This terrific group of young business leaders is proof that entrepreneurship knows no age boundaries," said Mr. Dell. "Innovative ideas that challenge convention and solve problems are born every day in board rooms, classrooms, even college dorm rooms all over the world."
During the roundtable discussion, the students and Mr. Dell discussed sustaining hyper growth in the first few years of developing a business; using social media effectively to interact with clients; maintaining a work/life balance; and incorporating philanthropy while growing a company. Their conversation is featured in the August 22, 2011 issue of Forbes and available online at http://blogs.forbes.com/michaelnoer/2011/08/03/michael-dells-dorm-room-start-up-summit/
Forbes conducted a nationwide search for several months to identify these ambitious students, who are all undergraduates or have graduated within the last 12 months. They each run an operation of significant size (typically above $100,000 dollars in annual revenue) and represent various businesses from a solar panel installation to bicycle manufacturing.
For example, out of her passion for skiing, Corrine Prevot created Skida, a Vermont-based skiwear company. Other students built companies after seeing opportunities in the marketplace. After a summer internship, Nikhil Sethi founded Adapt.ly, a company that automates advertising purchases across social media websites. Daniel Blake founded EcoScraps, a company that transforms food waste into compost, because he wanted to capitalize off the high-volume of food waste in America.
“It meant a lot for us to network with likeminded entrepreneurs at the summit,” said A.J. Forsythe, founder of iCracked, a iPhone repair business. “It gave everyone motivation to keep going because sometimes you feel alone when you’re starting your own company.”
For these stories and more on the America’s Top Colleges feature, visit http://www.forbes.com/special-features/forbes-college-all-stars.html
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