Yellow Pages
Skagit County native Jesse Gossett, 24, and his business partners were voted the No. 1 young entrepreneurs in the country this week by readers of BusinessWeek magazine.
The magazine hand-picked the Boston-based startup — a renewable energy consulting firm — to be profiled in its annual list of the top 25 entrepreneurs under 25.
Then the magazine asked voters to rank the entrepreneurs, giving each of them time to rally support. With 13,000 votes cast by the deadline, Gossett’s Emergent Energy Group was counted the winner.
“This victory does not simply speak to the achievements that we have made over the past two years,” Gossett said in an e-mail to the company’s supporters. “This is a message from you to the world that we are not satisfied with the trajectory of our energy future.”
The firm — which Gossett launched with friends during their senior year of college at Tufts University — helps cities launch renewable energy initiatives by doing most of the consulting, planning and developing for them.
Gossett said his personal concern for nature first budded while growing up in the Northwest. He graduated from Stanwood High School in 2004, and his parents still live in Lake McMurray.
Emergent’s owners were first inspired to follow up on their business concept during the Energy Security Initiative at Tufts. Gossett said what sets their firm apart is its communitywide approach to bringing new energy concepts into cities.
Gossett said the projects they propose, such as building a wind power plant or adding solar roof panels to buildings, require a financial and emotional investment from the entire community to be successful.
The business owners expect their clientele of about 30 municipalities will help them reach $250,000 in revenue this year.
And with little overhead for the business — which conducts most of its work out of a house in which two of the partners live — its owners plan to be making a profit by 2011.
Emergent competed in BusinessWeek’s online vote against mostly Internet-based companies included in the group of 25 entrepreneurs. The magazine received a record number of 600 nominees for this year’s contest.
Whitney Pipkin can be reached at 360-416-2112 or at .
