Hasta La Ideas

One of the highlights of A Better World By Design 2011 was the fantastic panel on Young Entrepreneurship Networks on the morning of day two. The panel included Mathias Holzmann of Palomar5; Adriana Pentz of Starting Bloc; Fabian Pfortmuller of Sandbox; and Dylan Reid of The Kairos Society.

Pfortmuller characterized Sandbox as a network for “identifying young people who are too young to be doing what they are doing.” Members must be under 30-years-old and referred by one of members of the closed community. “Age,” said Pfortmuller, “is more important than what they happen to be doing.”

Pentz described Starting Bloc as a “global fellowship program of entrepreneurs” and “bridge builders.” The network looks for members from all backgrounds to great bridges across different sectors of business. Starting Bloc runs a 5-day program called the Institute for Social Innovation, which teaches new members about the design thinking and innovation process.

Holzmann recalled how Palomar5 grew out of the fact that TED conferences most often include only established innovators. Instead, Holzmann wanted to “get people in their 20’s while they’re doing these [TED-worthy] things,” as well as to “help out young entrepreneurs so they don’t have to take another job.” Holzmann described Palomar5 as an “incubator for people.”

The Kairos Society, said CEO Dylan Reid, came from a bunch of UPenn students wondering “what would the world look like if all the world leaders… were best friends 20 years ago.” The Society seeks to build trusting relationships between it’s members, as “entrepreneurs take a sizable risk and can only do that with people they trust.”

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