Andrew Arcangel earns top honor from Under30CEO.com

Alumni Entrepreneurship | Apr 05, 2013 | Nicole Gesualdo

Being a first-time entrepreneur doesn’t always bring tons of recognition.

Yet Andrew Arcangel (GSB ’11) just scored some — by being one of 12 small-business owners nationwide named “Rookies of the Year” by the online magazine Under30CEO.com.

Andrew is the owner and founder of true athelite, a sportswear company that creates high-tech clothing for serious players, with a special focus on basketball. The seeds for the business were planted while he was still a student at the Gabelli School, and he has been tending them ever since.

This is the first time Under30CEO has selected a list of top “rookie” business owners, and here, according to the magazine’s editors, is why they did it:

“Being a first time entrepreneur is rarely a glamorous and coveted lifestyle. You work 80 hours a week. You play every role, from accounting to marketing to project manager. You don’t get to go to happy hours or see your family and friends as much as you’d like, and you do all of this while sometimes not even pulling in a salary. Its extremely difficult.

Under30CEO set out to find these individuals and recognize their accomplishments in their first year of business.”

What set Andrew apart from the enormous pack of young entrepreneurs out there? His passion, and his commitment to what the entrepreneurial community calls “bootstrapping” — getting out there and making it happen through sheer work and determination.

Congratulations, Andrew!