The Young Entrepreneur Scholarship supports high school seniors who have owned and operated a business during high school and plan to attend an accredited four-year university in the United States.
The scholarship will be given to 10 recipients. Each recipient receives $40,000, awarded as $10,000 per year for four years, to help fund their college education as they continue developing as entrepreneurs.
Scholarship recipients also attend a two-day virtual summit, where they meet fellow scholars, connect with business leaders, and participate in hands-on workshops designed to support their growth during the transition to college.
We believe education is the foundation of long-term success, but education can come from many places. If a scholar builds a company that requires 100% of their focus, we offer a deferral of their scholarship funds for up to 2 years. Go build your company. If you decide to return to school, your scholarship will be waiting for you.
The Young Entrepreneur Scholarship will open for applications in September 2027.
Award Total
$40,000
Distributed over 4 years
Network
2 Day Summit
Meet leaders and peers
Scholarship Criteria
To be eligible for the Young Entrepreneur Scholarship, applicants must:
Be a graduating senior of a U.S. high school or home-school program
Attend an accredited four-year college or university within the 50 United States
Own and operate a business (or non-profit) for at least one year
Have a business generating revenue (unless non-profit)
Submit a completed online application
Share business financials, if selected as a finalist
Participate in a Google Meet video interview, if selected as a finalist
Winners must attend a virtual summit (in summer of 2028) to meet fellow scholars and connect with business leaders
Selection
The Young Entrepreneur Scholarship is awarded by a committee of business and educational leaders. This is a merit based scholarship, with the selection committee looking at:
Entrepreneurial Values
Does the applicant demonstrate sustained entrepreneurial character? We look for evidence of ambition, bias towards action, smart risk-taking, resourcefulness, problem-solving, and grit.
Level of Impact
How effectively did the business create value for others? We measure this by both the depth of the solution (how significantly it impacts customers) and the breadth of the reach (how many people it served).
Future Vision
We look for entrepreneurs who view their current business as just the starting line. Does the student have a clear roadmap for the future and the ambition to tackle even larger problems tomorrow?
Phil Santoro knows firsthand the personal sacrifice required to build a company while in high school. Phil founded his first company at the age of 13.
In 2007, while a junior in high school, Phil founded FreeForums.org, a hosting platform that allowed people to create and manage their own online community forums. Phil scaled the platform to 125 million monthly pageviews, making it one of the most visited online destinations at the time.
Phil led FreeForums.org to a strategic acquisition by the publicly traded company CrowdGather Inc. in 2010, marking his first major exit. Phil went on to work for Google and then co-found the startup studio Wilbur Labs in 2016. Phil credits his early entrepreneurial ventures with giving him the experience and exposure needed to fuel a lifetime of building companies.
Phil believes entrepreneurs are critical, and that the earlier you build a company, the better. At the same time, the current educational system wasn't built for students running companies, and ambitious students running a company face a mountain of challenges both inside and outside their business.
That's why he co-founded the Santoro Family Foundation, with his wife Rubi, to support the next generation of entrepreneurs. In addition to the $40,000 scholarship, the connections gained by meeting other young entrepreneurs should last a lifetime.
Phil Santoro
Co-Founder of Wilbur Labs and Co-Chair,
Santoro Family Foundation