The current recession can be considered a good learning experience not only to seasoned entrepreneurs but also to the younger Gen Y crowd starting out in the business world.

Donna Fenn, in her book Upstarts: How Gen Y Entrepreneurs are Rocking the World of Business and 8 Ways You Can Profit from Their Success, leverages 20 years of writing about Corporate America to present an encouraging view of what lies ahead with an increasingly more astute Gen Y entrepreneurs.

Harnessing the power of new technologies, partnering right from the start even with competitors and building a more socially and morally conscious company culture where a work-life balance is better achieved characterize the new breed, according to Donna.

In addition, performance-based meritocracy gets higher priority over employment years.

The new entrepreneurs have grown up with the likes of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Richard Branson as their roles models.

It’s interesting to note that out of the many companies that Donna interviewed in her book in 2008 when the economy was much healthier, only one went out of business and two sold the business when the book finally came out in the middle of the economic meltdown.