Most Wharton undergrads take their summer jobs and turn them into a career.
Nathaniel Stevens took his summer job and turned it into his own company.
Stevens is the founder and president of Yodle, a fast-growing company that helps small businesses increase profits through Internet advertising.
Initially a local Philadelphia company, Yodle has expanded to five regional offices and has recently been featured in both Forbes and BusinessWeek.
And what is now a burgeoning company began through a Penn program.
In 2005, Stevens created Yodle through the Wharton Venture Initiation Program - the same program that birthed campus eatery Gia Pronto.
Stevens developed the idea for the company - then called Natpal - while working for his family's car business in Connecticut.
His success at generating Web advertising income for the business made him realize that other small businesses could take advantage of the Internet.
"I thought there was a better opportunity for local businesses to advertise online in a transparent and data-driven manner," Stevens said. "I took my family and Wharton quantitative background to start Yodle."
After developing the business plan, Stevens decided to take a leave from Wharton.
He has never looked back - Yodle has since expanded to include over 500 clients.
He was also named as one of the "Top 20 Entrepreneurs Under 25" by BusinessWeek in July.
Stevens and his team of 50 employees utilize popular search portals such as Google, MSN and Yahoo! to guide customer searches to each small business's Web site. His service then prompts users to call the company.
Many local businesses have thrived through Stevens' company. Pileggi on the Square, a salon located at 7th and Walnut streets, saw an increase in profits of 10 to 20 percent after signing up; Catering by Mario's invested about $25,000 in advertising, directly generating over $315,000 in revenue.
"Local businesses genuinely benefit from our platform," said Wharton professor Kartik Hosanagar, who serves a member of the Yodle advisory board. "The online advertising space is too fragmented and complex for your average local business."
Stevens sees Yodle's rapid growth as just the beginning.
We're "going for 1,000 [customers] by the end of the year," Stevens said. "Our goal is to become a leader in marketing for small businesses."
