The resumes of 20-something CEOs

Virginia Business
August 2007

Secret of his Success Jehovah's Witness upbringing. "I had been knocking on doors since I was 7. I was graded at every door on my poise, my posture, my gestures, how I was speaking," says Erb. "If I hadn't been raised in that environment, I really doubt I would have gotten the business I got in New York."

Joel Erb
Age: 23
President & CEO Inet Network Inc.
Richmond

• Age 15 – Starts Inet Network from his bedroom. Builds Web sites for family friends for $15. By end of year, he snags a $30,000 Web campaign for a major fashion house.

• Age 16 – Drops out of high school to become first Virginia student to enroll in a state-sponsored, pilot education program where students take classes online.

• Age 17 – Business is booming for his online marketing firm. With an office of seven employees in Colonial Heights, he travels to New York and meets with a potential investment firm on Sept. 10, 2001. After the terrorism strikes of Sept. 11, Erb loses New York clientele — approximately 80 percent of his business. Decides to enroll at the University of Richmond.

• Age 18 – Gains provisional acceptance. Must take summer course work to reintroduce him to the classroom. Begins college classes and graduates from high school (in that order).

• Age 20 — Drops $300,000 to move his company to its current site in Shockoe Bottom, Richmond.

• Age 21 – Launches branding and graphics firm, Muroe Creative.

• Age 22 – Graduates from college, named the Small Business Administration's Young Entrepreneur of the Year for the Mid-Atlantic Region. Consolidates Muroe with Inet to form parent company INM United.

• Age 23 – INM United boasts more than 300 clients.

Secret of his Sucess Finding balance "Putting in a few extra hours won't make a difference, but missing out on college would," he says. "During the week, I focus on school and then I do work stuff, but the weekends are my sacred time. I'm in a fraternity. I definitely live it up."

Joel Holland
Age: 22
CEO of Footage Firm
McLean

• Age 16 – On a family vacation, takes video footage of Washington, D.C. On a whim, sells it as stock footage on eBay for $35. Launches Footage Firm later that year. Becomes chief marketing officer for Kidz Online Inc., a Herndon-based firm that provides Web-based teaching and training films to organizations around the world. While there, co-founds, produces and hosts Streaming Futures, a Web-based career advice show that receives more than 37 million views a month.

• Age 17 – Becomes teen entrepreneur advice columnist for Entrepreneur Magazine.

• Age 18 – Named Business Student of the Year by the McLean Chamber of Commerce. Continues interviewing high-profile leaders for Streaming Futures, including Steve Forbes, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg.

• Age 19 – Enrolls at Babson College. Becomes communications manager for the Babson E-Tower, a dorm/business incubation program designed for 21 student business owners.

• Age 21 – Named one of the Top 25 Entrepreneurs Under 25 by BusinessWeek magazine. Interns for both MTV Networks and Warner Brothers.

• Age 22 – Currently a junior at Babson and intern with Harris Williams and Co. in Boston. Continues to grow Footage Firm, now worth approximately $500,000.

Secret of his Sucess Perseverance "My parents were very instrumental, not in helping my business because they discouraged me nearly every step of the way," says Johnson. "In fact, they sent me to boarding school so that the business wouldn't get in the way of my education."

Cameron Johnson
Age: 22
CEO of BoosCSI.com, Millionairesecrets.com, EasyFollowups.com
Roanoke

• Age 9 – Begins printing cards and stationery for friends and family. Launches Cheers and Tears Printing Co. out of his bedroom "office."

• Age 12 – Sells sister's Beanie Baby collection online for $1,000. Invests $5,000 in buying Beanie Babies and becomes No. 2 seller on the Web.

• Age 14 – Launches e-mail forwarding service, MyEZmail.com. Nominated for Junior Achievement's Youth Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Doesn't win, but hires winner Aaron Greenspan, 17, to develop Surfingprizes.com, an advertisement-driven online service that pays users to surf the Web.

• Age 15 – Leaves Woodberry Forest, a private boarding school near Orange, to attend Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke. Launches Surfingprizes.com and lands cover story in BusinessWeek magazine. Becomes an advisory board member to the Tokyo-based firm, FutureKids, as well as an outside consultant for gaming company, Sega of America. Japanese author ghostwrites Johnson's biography. It becomes the No. 4 best-selling book in Japan.

• Age 17 – Launches ChooseYourPrizes.com

• Age 18 – Graduates from high school, has already earned his first million. Enrolls at Virginia Tech. Drops out after one semester.

• Age 21 – Launches BoostCSI.com, a Web-based customer retention tool for car dealers.

• Age 22 – Launches EasyFollowups.com and Millionairesecrets.com. Publishes autobiography "You Call the Shots."