Anand Chhatpar
BrainReactions
www.brainreactions.com
www.brainreactions.net
Madison, Wis.
Founded: 2004
Age: 25
Anand Chhatpar's idea of harnessing the creativity and brainstorming potential of young people landed him fourth on last year's list. Chhatpar's company, BrainReactions, consists of a pool of professional brainstormers who create new product features, crack new market segments, and develop customer-service improvements for clients like Bank of America and Procter & Gamble. Chhatpar says he didn't start with a formal business plan or target goals, but as he's wrapped his brain around the potential of his business, he's "become a lot more formal."
Last year, Chhatpar was still the company's only full-time employee. But this year, he not only has a 10-person team but can draw from a pool of 350 brainstormers, up from 200 last year. And revenues have grown by some 300%. After the contest, a department of the U.N. tapped Chhatpar to begin brainstorming on its Millennium Campaign. The deal resulted in five brainstorming sessions and an unsolicited letter of thanks and endorsement from the U.N. Youth Coordinator. Now, Chhatpar's main focus is expanding globally. To do that, he's about to launch the Web 2.0 version of Brain Reactions-brainreactions.net, which is essentially an online network of brainstormers, allowing them to work their magic remotely. "The idea is to do online collaboration for innovation," says Chhatpar.
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