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December 4, 2008

The Davos Gang Makes Us Look Smart

Posted by Max Chafkin at 1:03 PM

The World Economic Forum—the non-profit best known for it's annual star-studded gathering in Davos, Switzerland—just named the winners of it's 2009 Technology Pioneers competition, an annual innovation award. Etsy, the online market for handmade goods, and Mint.com, the personal finance website, were among the honorees. Coincidentally enough, both companies' founders—Rob Kalin of Etsy and Aaron Patzer of Mint—were among the up-and-coming entrepreneurs we featured in our October cover story. (Kalin appeared on the cover.) The honors are well-deserved. Etsy is a revolutionary company that combines the power of e-commerce and social networks with the ancient idea of craftsmanship. And Mint offers a powerful way for people to keep track of their finances—a worthy goal in our debt ridden society.

To check out the full list of honorees, see here. And, if you haven't yet, give Donna Fenn's essay on youthful entreprenuership a read. It's the smartest, most-levelheaded, truest appraisal of Generation Y (which happens to be my generation) that I've read yet. Money quote:

As a CEO, you may wonder how to absorb such difficult young people into your company. But here's a better question: How do you compete with them? Because they are starting some fascinating companies. Dismissing the latest crop of twentysomethings as navel-gazing screen-a-holics is a mistake. This generation, at nearly 80 million strong, is poised to be the largest, the most educated, and the most diverse in American history. That gives its members special insight into the largest, the most educated, and the most diverse market in history.

The rest is here.