Conversation with Ryan Paugh

Ryan Paugh is the Chief of Staff of The Young Entrepreneur Council and former Community Manager of Brazen Careerist. This is a man who understands the blueprints of successful online communities as good as anyone. Richard Millington and David Spinks are the only other people I can think of that are at his level.

Ryan and I have known each other online for years, and he has always shown integrity and value consistency, which is why I respect him so much. What he and The Young Entrepreneur Council are doing for entrepreneurship in the US and the world is, I believe, very important. Critical, one might say. More people need to hear what this organization stands for, so I asked Ryan to join me for a video conversation to talk about it.

Some of the topics we discuss:

• What the Young Entrepreneur Council stands for, and why it was created.
• Why there’s room for improvement everywhere in the world regarding entrepreneurship, even in the US.
• Why it’s the best moment to be an entrepreneur: finding support and mitigating risk is easier than ever.
• Ryan’s experience in the early stages of Brazen Careerist, and what everyone can learn from the case of Brazen: connecting with fellow entrepreneurs and creating alliances.
• How the YEC works: they represent exceptional, or up-and-coming top entrepreneurs. The look for diversity and leverage of technology.
• The ideal outcome of the YEC, their big goal: become the answer to every problem that young entrepreneurs face.
• Entrepreneurship as the American dream, and why the trend is going to increase.
• The current legal deficiencies that young entrepreneurs have to deal with, especially for those with student debt.
• The terrible equation of adding student debt to the uncertainty of the entrepreneurship path, plus the big mass of people going towards the safe path that doesn’t exist anymore.
• My criticism towards most protests from young people around the world in the past few months. They’re missing the key philosophy behind entrepreneurship.
• The elements that top entrepreneurs have that make them magnets of offers and opportunities.
• Why I believe lack of clarity of incentives is what prevents most people from adopting the entrepreneurial path.
• Ryan’s fine points on hard work and “insecurity work.”
• Ryan’s understanding of the most important things a community manager must do.
• The tactics of the YEC to create change.
• How to join the YEC.
• Why the YEC makes sure to communicate to its members that they own the organization too.
• The potential backlash of getting a lot of young people involved in entrepreneurship because it’s a fad, instead of being their carefully considered path.
• The best consequence of the recession in the US: learning to be extremely efficient. That know-how will stay once the recovery happens.
• The increasing adoption of the “lean startup” mentality.

Relevant Links:

The Young Entrepreneur Council
Ryan on Twitter
Ryan’s email: ryan@theyec.org