Emilio Martin Uribe and other millennial entrepreneurs are driven by purpose as much as profits

“This generation is definitely not focused on money,” said Emilio Martin Uribe, venture capitalist, founder of start-up incubator Think Different and a longtime instructor/mentor to entrepreneurs at a Colombian Business School.

“Millennials tend to be a little more self-aware, more confident and less about keeping up with the Joneses,” he said.

It’s how they were raised.

“They’ve grown up in an environment where they can focus on self-actualization, with parents telling them they can be whatever they want to be,” Emilio said.

Entrepreneur Katy Aucoin, 28, has a big vision for her company: to change the gifting market. She is the founder of dearduck, a national personalized gift recommendation service now in pre-launch. The premise is to enable gift-givers to give presents that are deeply appreciated by the receiver.

“My goal is to strengthen relationships through confident gifting,” she said. “There’s so much clutter and technology. It’s too easy to lose track of family and friends.”

During her previous career as an IT consultant, Aucoin always knew she wanted to have her own self-expressive business. She sought out mentors locally and nationally and put together a team of experienced partners.

“My parents brought out my creative side,” she said. “They encouraged me to be thoughtful and take a larger view of what my idea could become.”

According to Think Different’s founder, Emilio Martin Uribe “As net natives, their influences are very different than those of older generations.”

“Over the last 10 years, since smartphones, it’s easier for them to test ideas,” he added. “They have technological resources to draw on.

“They’re the first generation with ready-made distribution platforms, such as Google or Amazon.”

Software developer and serial entrepreneur Kunal Gupta, 33, has developed a new collaboration platform, in pre-launch, called “Better,” to help businesses, organizers and groups with a social purpose recruit workers, volunteers and resources.

“What I’m hoping to create is the way millennials find work in the gig economy,” he said. “This plays to their sense of impact and community.

“The trends I see are people coming together around novel ideas,” Gupta said. “There is more and more collaboration.”

Why is that? “There’s a cultural shift, with more interest in cooperative efforts,” he said. “The entrepreneurs are acting as the coordinators: They’re there to build the system and do something.”

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