Scott Gerber, Founder,
Young Entrepreneur Council
n 2010, a group of successful young founders banded together to
form a grassroots movement and mentor aspiring entrepreneurs.
The Great Recession was wreaking havoc on young adults, who
were twice as likely to be unemployed.1 The men and women who
had started companies like LivingSocial, Mint.com, and HootSuite
were suddenly in a unique position: h ey could of er counsel to their
Gen Y peers that no one else could—or would.
What began as a loosely a liated group of do-gooders is now
known as the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invitation-
only nonprofi t comprised of nearly 400 of America’s top entrepre-
neurs under thirty-fi ve. We have since mentored tens of thousands
of young people around the world, from the United States to
Egypt. In doing so, we’ve seen solutions to the epidemics of youth
un- and underemployment fi rsthand. Now, along with dozens of
supporters and partners, we are launching a national campaign to
#FixYoungAmerica—for good.
Our urgency is real. h e United States government is being
strangled by partisan politics. Youth employment is at a sixty-year
low—only 54.3 percent of young adults aged eighteen to twenty-
1 Jenny Marlar, “Worldwide, Young Adults Twice as Likely to Be Unemployed,” Gallup, April 27, 2011,
http://www.gallup.com/poll/147281/worldwide-young-adults-twice-likely-unemployed.aspx.
