The importance of having a community of successful, thriving young small business entrepreneurs cannot be overstated. Simply put, they represent the future. Their vision will play a major part in shaping our country’s economy and what the business landscape of tomorrow will look like. And it’s their willingness to embrace change and explore new ideas, whether in terms of technology or business practices and philosophies, that will pave the way forward and potentially have an impact beyond the business world.

Sydney Chasin, founder of Chasin’ Dreams Farm, is forging a distinct path of her own in the snack food industry. The company, which is also a first place winner of the 2022 FedEx Small Business Grant program, is embracing new approaches in its ingredient sourcing and product offerings. And in doing so, it’s created a new generation of snacks, which feature sorghum as its base ingredient. The result is an innovative, healthier snack that is plant-based, naturally gluten-free, and non-GMO.

We asked the founders of these two standout small businesses to give us some insights about their experiences being young entrepreneurs—and how they bring a fresh perspective to their respective industries.

There’s a little bit of irony in the fact that a new, healthy snack is made primarily from an ancient grain. But that little bit of irony is nothing compared to the big amount of success that Chasin’ Dreams Farm has achieved in just a few years.

The San Diego-based company’s line of flavored snacks is not only healthy for customers, it actually benefits the land on which its key ingredient, sorghum, is grown. “Using sorghum is definitely our biggest sustainability effort,” says Sydney. “We’re creating a brand for people who want to eat an amazing snack, one they’re really excited about. And we’re doing it with an incredibly sustainable ingredient.”

The farmers that provide the sorghum to Chasin’ Dreams Farm use regenerative farming practices, meaning the crops capture carbon from the air and store it safely in the soil. Sydney also added, “The crops are drought resistant, so our farmers don’t have to irrigate their fields as often, even during a drought season.”

With Chasin’ Dreams Farm, there are moments when Sydney feels like a fire has been lit under her team to go and figure things out themselves. This means sometimes she just has to trust her gut feelings. Because, according to her, “Founder’s intuition is so real.” And there are also times when solutions come from some unexpected places. “You might find out that some random person on your soccer team knows something about shipping,” says Sydney.

Although it’s important to embrace new ideas and continue building a network with other like-minded small business owners, the most important thing the young entrepreneurs of Hikers Brew Coffee and Chasin’ Dreams Farm can do is create strong connections with their customers. And the most basic way to do that is by getting products into their hands. “Pretty much any shipment under 300 cases goes out via FedEx,” says Sydney. Zach had a similar view and states, “A lot of our bigger shipments we have always shipped with FedEx. It gets there faster, and we know it’s more reliable.” And having that level of certainty can only help the companies’ ongoing efforts to expand their base of loyal customers.