Millennial Entrepreneurs Harness Power of Vintage Train Travel

Two dozen young entrepreneurs spilled off a train exhausted after their journey and dragged their luggage toward Washington, D.C.’s bustling Union Station. The Millennial Trains Project participants had just spent a week and a half chugging cross-country in vintage train cars as part of what amounted to a moving start-up incubator. Each young entrepreneur had an idea for a project that could have broad impact but be implemented at the local level and they helped each other breath life into those ideas as they rolled across the country. The participants gained admission through crowdfunding. Those who could raise the $5000 for the trip – convince enough people their project was worth pursuing – got a ticket. They said it was a good way to avoid using traditional measures of success like GPA and to ensure that all participants started the trip on an equal playing field. It’s too soon to tell the long-term impact of the projects that were born and advanced on the journey, but the Millennial Train Project participants Fusion spoke with said without exception that it had been a time of growth and discovery.