By Nick Leiber, Stacy Perman, John Tozzi, Ricky McRoskey

This summer, BusinessWeek set out on its fourth annual search to discover the most promising young entrepreneurs in the U.S. As in previous years, we asked BusinessWeek readers to nominate candidates aged 25 and under who are running their own companies that show potential for growth and establish the talent of the founders behind them. After the call for nominations ended in late July, our staff sifted through the nominees to ensure founders and co-founders met the age criteria. Then we asked Richard Branson, BusinessWeek contributor and Duke University executive-in-residence Vivek Wadhwa, and the Kauffman Foundation's Bo Fishback to help us pick the most impressive from among this batch.

To read profiles of the finalists and vote for your favorite, click on. We’ll announce the top vote getters at the end of Sept. (Note: All revenues are self-reported.)

Business Exchange related topics:
Millenials at Work
Leadership
Entrepreneurship