YouthNation: Building Remarkable Brands in a Youth-Driven Culture

Acknowledgments

When I was growing up, I never imagined I would write a book. I mean I was the type of person that would have trouble completing an essay and many times a simple paragraph. There was one teacher I encountered growing up who taught me that writing could be a place to channel emotion and passion; Norman Walker you were that person. I will always be thankful you crossed paths with me as an impressionable youth. May you rest in peace.

It's fairly obvious that without the formation of Mr Youth (which would one day become MRY, and then spin-off CrowdTap), I would not have realized the experiences that lead to the writing of this book. I'd like to humbly acknowledge the core crew that has largely stuck by me from what feels like forever ago: Dan Lafontaine, Evan Kraut, David Weinstock, Matt Rednor, Vishal Sapra, Eric Schoenberg, and Helene Devries. I'd also like to thank the great new influences at MRY: Clare Hart, David Berkowitz, Cedric Devitt, Ian Chee, and the incredible Laura Desmond. Lastly thanks to the cronies who were with me when this journey all began; I still remember our four-person team trying to make enough noise to matter: Paul Tedeschi, Vinny Saulle, and Doug Akin. Lastly to Brandon Evans and Kareem Kouddous, your feats on CrowdTap have blown me away.

Thank you to those that took big risks on our organization and myself at various points throughout my career. From Jordan Rednor, who dove in and wrote a six-figure check, when I was still working from ...