The Winning

Young

Entrepreneurs

2008

The results are in for this year's Best Entrepreneurs 25 and Under roundup. You'll want to keep an eye on these young business owners

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Who are the country's most promising young entrepreneurs? With some help from our readers, we set out to answer that question in our fourth annual Best Entrepreneurs 25 and Under Special Report. As in previous years, we posted a nomination form on the SmallBiz channel of BusinessWeek's Web site and asked readers to nominate business whizzes who were no more than 25 years old and running their own companies. We received a record number of nominations, ranging from the founder of an online TV network aimed at college students to a maker of flavored plastics.

After the call for nominations ended in late July, our staff sifted through the nominations and tried to choose the 25 most impressive. In this we had some high-profile help, from Virgin's Sir Richard Branson, BusinessWeek contributor and Duke University executive-in-residence Vivek Wadhwa, and the Kauffman Foundation's Bo Fishback.

As in previous years, some of the finalists had landed investments from angel investors and venture capitalists, some were already profitable, and most made heavy use of the Internet. The biggest difference this year? More entrepreneurs voiced a desire not only to make a profit but also to make the world a better place (BusinessWeek.com, 9/8/08). We posted profiles of the 25 finalists in early September and asked readers to vote for the most outstanding.

Both finalists and winners share a healthy mix of courage, creativity, and drive. And based on the success of last year's finalists, this year's crop is sure to be worth tracking in the future.

Leiber is Small Business editor for BusinessWeek.com .