Sabrina Mutukisna, founder and CEO of The Town Kitchen, is a quintessential example of a millennial entrepreneur incorporating social enterprise into a for-profit firm. Based in Oakland, CA, this office delivery service prepares  delicious meals and snacks, including vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options, with locally grown and sourced organic ingredients. After preparation, the meals are delivered primarily to office buildings, but individuals can order as well.

The focus of the social enterprise for the company is providing young workers a job with the opportunity to grow professionally. For instance, The Town Kitchen offers extremely competitive wages- $15.65/ hour-while the minimum wage in Oakland is $12.25. Her aim in doing so, according to The Town Kitchen’s website, is creating “more equitable cities where young people can live, work, and thrive in their hometowns.” This business is a beacon of hope for at-risk teens and young adults, with the vast majority of employees being between the ages of 15 and 25, and 47% of employees being foster or re-entry youth. The company even provides entrepreneurial training so that, even if workers don’t necessarily want to create or own a business, they can develop an entrepreneurial mind. In addition, the company provides opportunities for employees to earn college course credit.

This business serves as an excellent example of a fantastic product opening the opportunity for charitable action. As great as the social enterprise piece of the business is, the food and fast delivery is the driver of the business. The head chef at The Town Kitchen used to be one of the main chefs in Google’s cafes. Combining that talent with fresh produce and meats has certainly a recipe for success. This business serves as a lesson that, while we young entrepreneurs seek to impact the world around us through social enterprise, we must maintain a clear focus on creating value for consumers first.

It’s normally good advice to keep one’s work and love life separate, but this young entrepreneur has built a tech company that does just the opposite. Amber Wanner is the founder and CEO of CandiDate, a Philadelphia-based tech recruiting company also does matchmaking. Whether a candidate is looking for a job, a significant other, or both, CandiDate has the services to help. The business is based off of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Both a person’s love life and career have major implications for that person’s capacity to reach self-actualization. Amber wants to help people achieve self-actualization by giving them opportunities to achieve both professional and personal goals.

To me, this sounds like a crazy idea, but it’s both working and profitable! Amber’s company initially helps bring people to the city and give them a source of income. After settling in with the company, a recruit can use the services of the company to try and find love. Jobs bring people to the city, but love keeps them around. I’m excited to see just how profitable this business can become in Philadelphia and if it will expand to other cities or even countries.

Sarah Tulin is the creator of Oxie, the next big thing for preventing the side effects of air pollution. Oxie is a personal air purifier that wraps around the back of a person’s neck, as opposed to masks which covers almost all of a person’s face. It is extremely effective in purifying air while still being unobtrusive, sleek, and and comfortable. Additionally, it connects to the wearer’s smartphone to give information about the concentration of various pollutants in a certain area. This information can be collected and used to understand modern pollution and how to combat it. It’s very possible that this product will become a staple in modern cities with middle to upper class people as the target demographic.

Oxie serves as a great example of design being a product’s point of differentiation. Masks have been around for years to improve an individual’s air quality, but they are just plain ugly. In contrast, Oxie almost looks more like an accessory for an outfit than an air purifier. People might not be willing to cover their face with a big ol’ mask, but it seems like consumers are more than willing pay for purified air when they look great, too.

The Practical Dev, created by Ben Halpern, is an online platform designed as a community for programmers to collaborate, exchange ideas, and grow in their knowledge of programming. The website is called dev.to.  Ben is a guy who has been working on side projects throughout much of his professional career,  but this is the first one that has really taken off. Just go to his website here http://benhalpern.com/ and you get a pretty good idea of the kind of person he is.

Dev.to is a great example of Johnson’s ideas of “liquid network” and “web” coming together. Halpern has created a positive, helpful, and creative environment that just begs for innovation to develop. It is filled with skills ranging from novice to experienced professional, making a great educational opportunity for young programmers. Primarily, though, it is an excellent online platform for collaboration. With so many programmers in just one site, it’s only natural for creative innovations to develop. It’s like a 24/7 brainstorm session for programmers, and it’s amazing how many people connect through the forum. I can’t wait to see what awesome programs end up coming out of The Practical Dev.

One of the fastest growing niches in a plethora of markets is items that are “all-natural” and “organic.” Everything from organic popcorn to sunscreen to toothpaste is finding a way into mainstream consumption. For the past five years, one young entrepreneur on the east coast has been finding his opportunity for profit in this area with his wholesome, organic nut butters. Caleb Mangum, the brain behind the company Nutty Novelties, is finding his point of differentiation in his organic, delicious nut butters.  He’s always thinking of new recipes and flavor combinations, such as his recent introductions of cashew and pistachio butters. The biggest hit during this time of year, of course, is his pumpkin spice peanut butter.

His key to success, other than a great product,  has been the placement of his product. Mangum did an excellent job with segmenting and targeting his market. Of course, the people who buy all-natural, organic nut butters are typically concerned with other organic, all-natural products. thinking thought about ways to target this group, he decided farmers’ markets would be a great collection of his target demographic. While he has his product in many grocery stores and local markets in eastern Pennnsylvania, a great percentage of his sales come from taking his product directly to the market, in a very literal sense.

This case study of Nutty Novelties shows the importance of understanding the market place. There are plenty of people that enjoy peanut butter, but Mangum found a very loyal, strong, growing demographic to target, and he’s been very successful in doing so. It may seem simple- an organic nut butter business- but there is clearly much more to it than that.

Snarky Puppy, the syncretistic, progressive jazz- funk band has had a long struggle to the top. They’ve been touring for the past fourteen years and made it big about five years ago, but their story to the top is fascinating. As has been in the music industry for a long time, artists must tenaciously fight to earn money. Streaming is the number one way that people listen to music, and this system leaves artists with next-to-nothing royalties. In a master class at the National Music Academy,Michael League, the band leader, talked about this fight to make a profit: “[I] usually blow [extra money] on another album that nobody buys, but everyone listens to, but nobody buys.” Michael League is gifted enough and educated enough to make great music that people enjoy. The hard part for him was, and continues to be, getting people to buy it.

To be financially successful, he added an entrepreneur alter-ego.  He was the designer of all of the merchandise. He was the manager of all the venues and personnel. He was the head of finances. Under his parent label Ropeadope Records, he set up his own label, GroundUp Music, for which he established a strong social media presence. He decided the budget. He took care of payroll. He ran the website. In other words, on top of being the leader of the band, he was responsible for everything else.

As one can imagine, wearing all of those hats was tricky. On his path to success, Michael League assumed all of the risk in investing in Snarky Puppy. (At one point, he maxed out three different credit cards). Because of his assumption of risk early on, though, he now reaps the reward of his diligent work and investment. Marketing was a huge piece of the recipe for financial success. Michael League says touring and establishing a global presence was not only a  cornerstone to the sound of their band, but also to their money in the bank. They have performed on every continent except Antarctica and always get pictures with fans to post on social media. While they would be lucky to break even from a tour, the fan-following they accumulated while touring is paying off big dividends.

This case study of Snarky Puppy shows that it’s not enough to only have a good product or good service anymore. Please excuse if I sound like a Marketing 101 professor, but it takes customer engagement and strong branding to make money. Yes, this concept applies even to music. Snarky Puppy, while it wasn’t pretty, mastered the recipe for engaged customer, and the way they innovated in regard to their brand is what has brought them from the ground up.