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Wunderkinds2016 Dylan Gambardella, 20 Co-Founder, Next Gen Summit
Dylan Gambardella was not yet out of high school when he formed his first company, Students4Students College Advisory. In his senior year at Hendrick Hudson High School in Montrose, the Cortlandt Manor resident and his best friend, Justin Lasazan of Long Island, began matching high school students with students at top colleges that could offer advice on their applications. That led the partners to the enterprise that is making headlines now, the Next Gen Summit. Gambardella and Lasazan got the idea when their Students4Students project was a semifinalist at a Forbes Under 30 Summit. “Everything just inspired us and we thought, ‘Why not create something like this for younger people?’” says Gambardella, now a sophomore at Duke University. Their summit is aimed at budding entrepreneurs about 15 to 25 years old. The summit connects these young achievers and introduces them to “people who were in their shoes and made it happen,” he explains. The first summit, in Austin, Texas, last summer, drew 350 people. The next one will take place in June in New York City; Gambardella expects to draw 500 attendees. —KV
Francesco Vittorini, 28 & Nick Spano, 26 Founders, uSTADIUM
30 NFL players, uSTADIUM bridges the gap between everyday fans and their favorite players, with the likes of Victor Cruz, Muhammad Wilkerson, and Khalil Mack in attendance. The in-person gatherings always coincide with a football event—like the NFL Draft or Super Bowl—where fans can come together and eat/drink/party while watching. “We wanted to take the relationships fans were making online and bring them to reality. Messaging someone online about football is cool, but doing it in person is so much cooler,” say Spano, the company’s CMO, and CEO Vittorini. So far, uSTADIUM is exclusively targeting football fans, but Spano and Vittorini plan to expand to include all sports. —Mary Sue Iarocci
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