If you had five minutes on stage what would you say? What if you only got 20 slides and they rotated automatically after 15 seconds? This is the basis of any Ignite Presentation.

I had the opportunity to participate in the recent Ignite Reno, where entrepreneurs, geeks and young professionals gathered to share ideas, inspire one another or learn something new. The presentations addressed varying topics from The Rise of Geek Culture, 2010 Predictions, and Getting out of Debt Fast. I chose to focus my five minutes spiel on why GenY, is the entrepreneurial generation.

My presentation was inspired by Donna Fenn’s The Upstarts Are Coming: How GenY Entrepreneurs Are Rocking the World of Business. In this article excerpt from Upstarts she explores the potential impact that today’s young entrepreneurs will have on the U.S. economy.  Being both an entrepreneur and a part of GenY, I find it fascinating what unique opportunity we are granted and want to inspire others to jump on board.

In an Ignite presentation your slides move faster than you can imagine (15 seconds), I was forced to cut and go with the flow. Below you can find video of my presentation and slides followed by an outlined and flow of my talk.

E= (Entreprenur) A person who has possession of a new venture or idea and assumes the risk + return and so much more…

Risk what? Risk implies you have something to lose. When you start a company in your 20’s there is far less to lose than when you are in your 30’s, 40’s, or 50’s.

Generation Wh”Y” Not. GenY is the Generation who asks “Why”, the “Millenial Generation”, the “Generation Next”, the “Net Generation”, “iPod Generation”, the “Entrepreneurial Generation”

Technology is the air we breathe. GenY is the first grown up digital generation. Our lives revolve around and are interconnected through technology.

Our generation is different… armed with self-confidence, independence and lack of trust in large corporations; our generation is more inclined to look out for themselves.

Rock Stars. Nothing inspires others like role models, young entrepreneurs these days attract the kind of media and public adoration typically reserved for rock stars and athletes. Take for example Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Matt Mullenweg of WordPress, both were highly successful under the age of 25. “Entrepreneur’s ages are skewing younger and their ideas getting smarter.”

An Entrepreneurial Revolution. According to Fenn we are “an emerging group of young, brash, and highly educated “upstart” entrepreneurs beginning to raise the bar for mature companies in every industry.” “Naivly unaware” and willing to “adapt to change”.

It’s not for the faint of heart. Ask yourself; do you have what it takes to be an entrepreneur? Its incredibly hard, stressful, chaotic and more often than not results in failure.

Show Me the money. It’s not about the money, “Starting your own business is the most creative thing you can do. It’s living, breathing work of art.” – Shazi Visram, happy baby food.

Why be an Entrepreneur? It is the most rewarding thing you can ever do. You can change the world, make customers lives better and create an organization of lasting value.

Being and Entrepreneur means you get to wear Multiple hat’s. You never do the same thing one day after the other. For example: I manage the strategic direction of my Co., Development, build community awareness, code HTML, Tweet, use WordPress, make videos, Photoshop cool stuff and whatever else needs to happen.

Do you have what it takes? Give yourself a personality check. Am I…. passionate, self motivated and willing to take risks and try new things.

Be Patient. Things don’t happen over night.

Learn as much as possible. Read, Learn new skills, follow trends and learn from your own mistakes as well as others.

Juggle. The Key to success is prioritization, determining what needs to get done when and being flexible if it doesn’t happen the way you expect.

Unplug. My motto “Word Hard, Play Hard”, you must maintain a work-life balance. You need to disconnect every once and a while and extract yourself from you work, you usually come back with inspired with fresh ideas.

Just Do It. You will never know if you don’t try, so “Fail fast then quickly move on to the next big thing”

Are you Crazy? No I am an entrepreneur. I may have a few loose screws, work like crazy, always be thinking of my business, but what I do challenges me, teaches me new things and it is something I am proud of.