I knew that I was going into my family’s business when I started at Wharton.  My goal was to learn as much as possible so that I could bring new ideas and methods to my family’s 50 year old gourmet grocery business.  I was able to immerse myself in school and extracurriculars since I didn’t have to deal with those pesky interviews.  I loved volunteering with the tax assistance program and the business plan competition and Rebuilding Together.  I took all types of classes – finance, entrepreneurship, human capital, operations, marketing, even real estate.  Going to business school opened my eyes to all of the possible career paths ahead of me that I was “giving up” to go into the family business.  When I graduated, I thought I would professionalize the business, make it saleable, and move on.

Image: http://beacon.wharton.upenn.edu 

For all the talk about selling everything that’s not nailed down and the “biblical” time it has been to reap private equity investments over the past 18 months, investors who wanted the most bang for their buck should have considered venture capital.

image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net 

We know that data scientists are a hot commodity. Businesses can’t get enough of them. That’s great for tech companies that attract talent with stock and benefits, but less so for social initiatives and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) who could use their talent too. Short of asking nonprofits to drain their coffers to make expensive hires, can we find a way to staff their projects? I think so, if we can create a better mechanism to connect people to opportunities.

image: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net 

Our generation has more questions than we have answers when it comes to starting a business, managing our finances, being productive, and our health and nutrition.

We created Under30CEO to give young people the tools to live happier, more successful lives, and build a rock solid foundation for our generation.

Last week I received over 300 questions from our readers and I try to give a response to every single person who emails me…

Image: http://under30ceo.com 

San Francisco is about to take a beating. At least, if you believe noted technology pundit Michael S. Malone. 

In a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, Malone, who has covered technology for over 30 years, posits the end of "the gestalt of the programmer," citing an impending "Era of Devices" that "will be led by builders" that are "older, with a family, suburban and pragmatic." 

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The image of a young, unstoppable founder is certainly appealing — cultivated in movies like “The Social Network” and through press-friendly initiatives like Thiel 20 Under 20, there’s plenty in popular culture to suggest that the essential ingredients of entrepreneurship are little more than youth and a healthy dose of determination.

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The numbers aren’t pretty.

According to the National Women’s Political Caucus, of the 535 seats in the 113th U.S. Congress, just 18.5%--or 99 members--are women. In 2013, just 24.1%,of the 7,383 state legislators in the United States were women.

But a New Haven, Conn. nonprofit is doing its best to change that. The Women’s Campaign School at Yale isn’t officially a part of the storied university, but its alumna are similarly distinguished. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (NY) and former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (AZ) have completed the rigorous, hands-on campaign training that is designed to teach women how to run a successful political campaign.

Singapore and Hong Kong are Southeast Asia’s famous city-states. Both are offshore financial centres for the rest of Asia (and beyond), with a strong Chinese culture, and rightly proud of their success in spite of a lack of resources and space. Today, both places claim the coveted title of startup capital of the region, even though their tech ecosystems are quite different. Here’s an overview of each of them:

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“It’s no accident that great achievers, in business or beyond, rarely fit into conventional molds,” say Robert Austin  and Thorkil Sonne, in a recent article  in the MIT Sloan Management Review . They have proposed a method to “harness more of the world’s talent, and to make organizations more innovative” through a method they call the “Dandelion Principle.”

The current expansion is already longer than the average post-war business cycle. But what does the data tell us about the chances of an impending recession?

Here is a thought experiment. What if the US economy entered a recession next month? Would it be too early for a recession? How would it compare to previous recessions? And how would we explain the reasons for a recession occurring now?

Image: http://knowledge.insead.edu/ 

Finding a mentor can be invaluable for every entrepreneur. Yet, finding the right mentor can be tricky. Many entrepreneurs seek advice from people who have achieved enormous success -- the kind we aspire to achieve someday. In reality, being mentored by someone like this can kill your business.

Image: Ed Yourdon | Flickr 

Just because that lightbulb went off in your head and you’ve started a business does not mean that you're 100 percent satisfied with who you are as an entrepreneur.

Indeed the life of entrepreneurs can be full of trial and error. If they try something and it doesn’t work, they often move on to the next project.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) - After being near the bottom a year ago, Kentucky's entrepreneurial climate is now one of the best in the nation.

Governor Steve Beshear announced the annual State Entrepreneurship Index (SEI) ranked Kentucky fourth in the country for its ability to create businesses, according to a news release. The Commonwealth climbed 45 places from its ranking of 49th last year.

We all know at least one entrepreneur who always gets things done, and appears unstoppable in his quest. All of you probably know many others who talk incessantly about their great ideas, but never seem to even get started, or they give up at the first obstacle. What are the attributes that make an entrepreneur unstoppable, and is it possible for people to learn to be unstoppable?

There’s an old expression, “the days are long, the years are short.” Time does have a way of speeding by in a flash leaving us wondering where it went. This is the case as parents, as professionals, as friends, as humans, in general, and it’s all about presence and being in the moment; about not just allowing life to happen around us, but really being part of it.

First off — there's no magic to startups.

The best-kept secret about startups (especially for first-time entrepreneurs) is that you don't have to re-invent the wheel to be successful.

It's a secret because, in my experience, young entrepreneurs don't want to hear that someone has already solved 98% of the problem they want to tackle — and that they should focus on the remaining 2% — to increase their odds of success.

Image: FLICKR, WAGNER FONTOURA 

The emergence of marketing automation tools such as Hubspot and Marketo with their addition to traditional database marketing, customer relationship management systems and social media marketing tools, has given rise to a new role that’s a cross between a traditional chief marketing officer and chief technology officer.

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Most people start the day running in high gear and they never let up until the end of the day. Sometimes not even then. Their brains are still going 100 miles an hour as they try and get some sleep just so they can do it all over again the next day. That’s not a good way to start or end your days. If this is how your days are going, here’s a suggestion for you.

Image: http://smallbiztrends.com 

“Seven days,” wrote Witold Rybczynski in the August 1991 issue of The Atlantic, “is not natural because no natural phenomenon occurs every seven days.” The year marks one revolution of the Earth around the sun.  Months, supposedly, mark the time between full moons.  The seven-day week, however, is completely man-made.

Many federal managers are confronted with managing programs in a rapidly changing technology climate without a set of rapidly changing capabilities. Staffing, contracting, regulations, etc. all move slowly regardless of how quickly the outside world and technology in particular iterates. Agencies are sprinting to keep up. Federal leaders need to know where to put their resources and how to adapt their programs to recognize these realities.