Youth Movement

Both Tammy Morrison and Jennifer Sloat, 25, human-resources manager at BuyBuddy, say that working with people who are so young brings out their protective instincts. At BuyBuddy, cofounder Furdyk is not the only kid on the block: Michael Hayman, the company's other cofounder and its chief technology officer, is 20. (Corriero has no professional involvement in BuyBuddy.) Sloat, who refers to the company's two cofounders as "the Michaels," says, "Even though they're so successful and brilliant, something will happen to one of them, and we'll think, 'Oh, he's stressed, the poor guy. How can we help him out?' I'll say, 'Hey, do you need to go for a coffee?' They're kind of like the little brothers -- but we don't want to tell them that."

More than once, Sloat reports, Furdyk and Hayman have been contacted by older businesspeople whose motives seemed questionable. "There's a lot of what you could call vultures," Sloat says. "People realize that these kids have great ideas, and somebody finds out how to get a hold of them. They email or call and say anything from 'What do you think about my idea? What would you do in this circumstance?' to 'Maybe we could have a potential equity stake if we do this for your company?' The Michaels want to help people out, but sometimes that can bite you back."

At this point, however, even Furdyk is starting to show signs of being slightly jaded. When discussing a startup that he is especially unimpressed by, he observes sarcastically, "Their company vision was, like, having a Porsche."

Furdyk has at least one prominent sympathizer who knows what it's like to work in an adult world before officially reaching adulthood: Bill Gates. In October 1999, Furdyk was a panelist at the elite Business Council conference in Boca Raton, Florida, where Gates was a speaker. The two met briefly. "He said that when he was 20, he had the same problems I'm having," Furdyk reports. "Not being able to rent a car and not being able to get into a bar when they had their company meeting there."

Furdyk's mother, Marcia Furdyk, captured the exchange with a camera. "I don't know who was more excited -- Michael or me," says Marcia, who notes that Gates was "very nice and very sincere." In the photo, which now hangs in Furdyk's Toronto bedroom, Furdyk is gesticulating with his arms while Gates nods sagely.

As noteworthy as the early success of Furdyk and Corriero is, Tammy Morrison argues -- rather vehemently -- that they are not young people who happen to be talented; they are talented people who happen to be young. "It's not about age," Morrison insists.

"There have definitely been times when I've thought, Oh, yeah, they're 18 and 20," says Betsy Johnson. "But when we're brainstorming, it's not even something you care about or focus on because of the value of the conversation you're having. I am struck at different times by their maturity level in that they're not intimidated. They can stand up in front of a group of people and present their ideas. They have valid opinions, and they're more than happy to share them."

School's Out, Learning's In

When Furdyk and Corriero are not busy winning over the corporate world, they turn their attention to more service-oriented efforts -- namely, to TakingITGlobal. The project represents the answer to a couple of questions that they asked themselves during a conversation last fall: What would we do if we could do anything? What would be our dream? (As the TakingITGlobal prospectus mentions, this conversation occurred while "rollerblading along the streets of Parliament Hill in Ottawa," where they had gone for yet another conference.)

Furdyk and Corriero envision TakingITGlobal as a series of community centers, open to people of all ages, which eventually will exist in every country in the world. These centers will provide access to computers and to the Internet, giving people in economically depressed areas the opportunity to start online businesses. The centers will also offer programs to encourage teamwork and entrepreneurship, as well as serve as cultural hubs where community members can learn about the history of their region. And, because the centers will be linked to one another, Furdyk and Corriero hope that they will foster a global sense of community.

The pair's proposal is anything but modest. But their approach is systematic, with attention to both the big picture and the small details. They've also begun to think about how not to ruffle feathers across cultures by being too imperial. They're assembling a well-connected advisory board, and they're contacting a slew of companies that they hope will fund everything from one center to thousands of computers. "In the next four to six months, we'll be solidifying partnerships and figuring out a strategy to get this project in as many countries as possible as fast as possible," Furdyk says. The two anticipate that by late 2001 they will have five centers up and running. At that time, they will hold a five-day conference, with each participating country planning a day's events.