FOXBUSINESS.COM PROFILES ENTREPRENEURS AGE 35 AND YOUNGER

Many people who are not satisfied with the opportunities that stand before them stay unsatisfied. This is not the case with 35-year-old Emmanuel Zunz.

His first love was music—and after "failing at his first entrepreneurial venture" as a musician, he held a slew of different jobs. Finally, Zunz collected all his skills and experiences and combined them into Verge Records, an independent record label with a social and political conscience that tries to give back to the communities that generate the music it promotes. As part of Verge's business model, a small percentage of income earned from record sales supports educational organizations in the neighborhoods that create the content. Zunz says the cycle will come full circle when Verge will be able to identify artists that have been developed by these programs.

Only two years old, Zunz's grassroots organization is still in its infancy. And while this "virtuous cycle" has yet to be realized, the notion of social entrepreneurship has gotten the attention of some high brow people including the judges at the NYU Stern Business Plan Competition where Verge won $50,000 in seed capital in 2006.

With Verge Records and the start of a new Web site called oneRPM (that's one revolution per minute for all of you born after 1980) Zunz seems confident that his new kind of business model will flourish, even as many bigger labels struggle to hang on. "I think when you invest where there is chaos, there is opportunity… it gives a smaller business like us the ability to do something new, whether it's a new technology, a new design--an enhancement over the old existing biz models that no longer work anymore."

To learn more about Zunz's story, check out “Street Song” and scroll down for the Six Shooter Q&A…

THE SIX SHOOTER

1. Where were you the moment you decided your business plan?

I was on the subway in Boston on my way to a fundraiser.

 

2. What was the one thing you didn't know that you had to bluff your way through? 

As a start-up looking for capital we're supposed to know what lies ahead. I can't accurately predict the future, yet entrepreneurs attempt to do it everyday...So I think all entrepreneurs bluff there way through these types of things all the time.

 

3. What one life lesson did you learn that helped you build your business?

Not everyone will believe in you, you have to believe in yourself first, and then others will follow.

 

4. Who is your role model or inspiration?

Anyone who has survived a deadly disease and knows how to appreciate life.

 

5. What do you wish you had more of: time or money?

Money because we are very efficient with our time, and from my perspective, time is what you make of it...[And] as a start-up that has not been fully funded, money is more valuable to us right now.

 

6. What is the one word your employees your employees would use to describe you and why? 

Intense. [I just am] by nature, and it applies to all aspects of my life. My partners at Verge see this by the personal risks I take to make the business successful. When I believe something and commit to it, I do everything in my power to see things through [to] fruition.

 

Want to know who's next? Check back every other week for more Young Guns...And if know a young entrepreneur with an interesting story, e-mail us at youngguns@foxbusiness.com.

PODCAST	VIDEO
Download Podcast Have an iPod or iPhone? Get the Podcast available on iTunes	Video Archive Browse, search and watch your favorite Young Guns videos