The Winning Young Entrepreneurs 2010

Businessweek.com readers like results. Invited to vote for the most promising of 25 businesses run by entrepreneurs age 25 and under, readers did not choose the startups that raised the most money, had the biggest ideas, created the most sophisticated technology, or showed the most potential to reach huge markets.

Instead, over the past month, readers selected mostly bootstrapped businesses already generating positive cash flow. The five winners that garnered the biggest shares of more than 13,000 votes cast are all either profitable or cash-flow positive. Three were bootstrapped completely and none raised more than $40,000 in seed money. They could be models for how to build companies in lean times: Keep costs low and have a clear path to generating enough revenue to sustain the business.