CEO, 23, shares tips on startups

But for him, 'it's about changing the world' -- and he means it

Ryan Allis could pass for any young guy out of college. He shares a big house with four dudes in Chapel Hill, never cooks, spikes his hair in the front, likes rap and parties on weekends. But he's a little bit different.

At 23, Allis is also the co-founder and CEO of iContact, a $10 million-a-year software company in Durham that counts Bank of America, AT&T and Barack Obama's presidential campaign among its 18,000 customers.

He oversees a 30,000-square-foot office and 80 employees, many of whom are decades his senior.

Now he can add published author to his resume.

His first book, "Zero to One Million" (McGraw Hill), debuted last week. It chronicles his financial success and marks a jumping off point for his next grand endeavor: to take iContact public in 2009, just shy of his 25th birthday.

His story is reminiscent of many that were told during the height of the dot-com boom of the late '90s when young tech entrepreneurs were as common as Starbucks stores.

He may have missed that bubble, but he's now riding a resurgence highlighted by the 20-something founders of YouTube and the 23-year-old CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, who recently got face time on "60 Minutes."

For his part, Allis has been named a top young entrepreneur by Business Week and ABC, and he appeared as a guest "whiz-kid" last year on CNBC's "The Big Idea" with Donny Deutsch. Also last year, he talked some seasoned venture capitalists into investing more than $5 million in his vision.

Like other entrepreneurial prodigies, Allis rarely trifles, works 90-hour weeks and obsesses over business and philanthropic goals.

But what distinguishes the softspoken CEO is an adamant and outward fervor for making social change.

"What I really care about is reducing poverty and human suffering and ensuring environmental sustainability," he said. "That's what drives me to be an entrepreneur. It's what drives me to get up every day and realize there is meaning beyond just building a company."

Father's lessons

Part of that search for intrinsic value comes from his father, a retired Episcopal priest from Pennsylvania. Allis said his father taught him to be wary of material splendor and to empathize with the poor. The elder Allis once spent two weeks homeless in Chicago to gain perspective.

"My dad taught me to care about people," Allis said, a lesson he tries to apply to the management of iContact employees. He meets with staff weekly for flag football and is working on a stock option plan to enrich more workers.

His intense focus struck Jud Bowman, 26, co-founder of Durham software maker Motricity and a whiz kid in his own right, having started his company as a teen.

"When I first met him, I was like 'Are you serious? Is this really who you are?' " said Bowman, referring to Allis's outward, almost audacious, way of evangelizing about ending extreme poverty, war and lifting all nations.

"But he's completely sincere," Bowman said. "He's that rare. He makes bold forecasts like that and then beats them, consistently."

Other friends and co-workers say that on the surface, Allis is every guy: He dates, does improv raps, lives a night owl life and rarely rises before 9 a.m.

But underneath, "he's more action focused than anybody I know," said 22-year-old roommate Anthony Deloso. "Once, I sent him an e-mail about how we needed garbage pails for the house. He wrote back one line: 'What's the next action?' "

Inspiration on the walls

At home, Allis tapes handwritten personal creeds around the house and in his bedroom. Some are typed and framed, hanging on the wall.