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But rather than waiting for the right job opportunity to come along, some young people are taking matters into their own hands\u2014and turning to entrepreneurship. New data shared exclusively with Fortune by GoDaddy finds that microbusiness activity is growing across college communities nationwide, with several smaller university towns emerging as particularly strong entrepreneurial hubs.<\/p>\n
Stanford, Calif.,\u2014home to Stanford University\u2014has long been an entrepreneurial hotspot and led the ranking with 20.2% growth in microbusiness activity between July 2025 and June 2026. But smaller college communities weren\u2019t far behind: Warrensburg, Mo., home to the University of Central Missouri, saw 16.1% growth, while Newark, Del., home to the University of Delaware, recorded 16% growth. Elon, N.C., and Cortland, N.Y., rounded out the top five, with growth of 15.5% and 14.6%, respectively.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat surprised me is the diversity of schools and towns that made the top 10,\u201d Alexandra Rosen, economist and head of GoDaddy\u2019s Small Business Research Lab, told Fortune.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey range from the more high-tech hubs, with Stanford coming in first place, but also with rural areas like two SUNY schools being in the top 10, showing that entrepreneurship really is growing everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
The study identified college towns by combining GoDaddy\u2019s city-level microbusiness data with U.S. Census and federal education data. To qualify, a community needed a population of at least 10,000, a college or university with at least 5,000 students, and at least 20% of its residents enrolled in college or graduate school.<\/p>\n
AI is lowering the barriers to entrepreneurship\u2014and college towns are seeing a surge<\/p>\n
While the GoDaddy data isn\u2019t exclusive to students or recent graduates, it offers a broader snapshot of entrepreneurial activity in and around college communities. A microbusiness could belong to a professor publishing a book, a local resident opening a coffee shop, or a student testing a business idea\u2014and it speaks to the entrepreneurial energy universities can help cultivate in the communities around them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe optimism of opportunity and making an impact on the world\u2014in college towns, you\u2019re encountering the real world and probably asking, \u2018What is your place in that world and what are you going to do with it?\u2019\u201d Rosen said.<\/p>\n
College towns have long been breeding grounds for innovation, producing some of today\u2019s biggest companies. For example, Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook (now Meta) while attending Harvard University, and Michael Dell founded what would become Dell Technologies from his dorm room at the University of Texas at Austin.<\/p>\n
But a new wave of technological change is something of a double-edged sword for aspiring entrepreneurs. On one hand, AI is transforming the job market and raising questions about which entry-level opportunities will remain available to young workers. On the other, AI tools are lowering the barriers to starting a business, making it easier for aspiring founders to develop business plans, build websites, test ideas, and get a venture off the ground without the same resources they might have needed in the past.<\/p>\n
Overall, Rosen said entrepreneurship offers young people a way to \u201ctake the reins or to bet on yourself,\u201d rather than wait for an employer to give them an opportunity.<\/p>\n
Universities themselves have been a major source of making the process less intimidating. According to business school accreditor AACSB, the number of undergraduate entrepreneurship programs increased by nearly 25% between 2017\u201318 and 2019\u201320.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is inviting more students to feel it more accessible and less scary, and as a more likely outcome or potential path forward,\u201d Rosen said. \u201cIt feels less risky because it\u2019s more familiar. Everybody knows somebody that has a small business now.\u201d<\/p>\n
CEOs see a golden opportunity for Gen Z entrepreneurs\u2014but Jeff Bezos says don\u2019t skip the experience<\/p>\n
Some of the world\u2019s most prominent business leaders are also urging young people to take a closer look at entrepreneurship, arguing that rapid technological change is creating an unusually fertile environment for aspiring founders.<\/p>\n
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang called it \u201cabsolutely the single greatest time to start a company,\u201d during a conversation earlier this year with Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan.<\/p>\n
The 63-year-old even said he was \u201cjealous\u201d of the opportunities ahead for young founders. For those intimidated by the changes in the world, he encourages entrepreneurs to approach any challenge with one simple question: \u201cHow hard can it be?\u201d<\/p>\n
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sees a similar opening for young people willing to take advantage of the AI revolution. Speaking to Stanford students earlier this month, he argued that entering the workforce during a period of rapid change can give ambitious people an advantage.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re heading into the world right now to work on something, I think you want to start your career at a time of the greatest change, when the playing field is most open,\u201d Altman said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think people with high potential, drive, ideas, a new way of looking at things, and new skills tend to do relatively well when the ground is shaking the most.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, not every billionaire business leader thinks young people should rush to strike out on their own. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has cautioned against treating well-known college dropouts as blueprints for success.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is possible to be 18, 19, 20 years old, drop out of college and be a great entrepreneur,\u201d Bezos said on stage at Italian Tech Week 2025. \u201cWe have famous examples of that working, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, etc. But these people are the exception.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bezos, now the world\u2019s second-richest person with an estimated $355 billion fortune, graduated from Princeton University in 1986 and didn\u2019t launch Amazon until nearly a decade later. That extra time gaining work experience, he said, improved his odds of success.<\/p>\n
\u201cI started Amazon when I was 30, not when I was 20, and I think that extra 10 years of experience actually improved the odds that Amazon would succeed,\u201d Bezos added. \u201cSo that would always be my advice: I finished college, and I think it\u2019s been helpful to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
#Gen #bossesand #college #towns #thriving #entrepreneurship #hubs<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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