Spend lots of money.
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If you care about weight, regardless its actual speed effect, rigid and 1x9 work well. 29" as most know has much less need of suspension. That's 2lbs+ right there. 1x9 saves another almost-pound. Just pedal harder 
Piece of cake to get a HT 29er at 25 pounds. Heck, if I were you, I'd raise my goals and shoot for 24 or 23 or even 22. Each pound will cost you more $$$. Weight Weenie forum is filled with all the tricks of the trade.Bumblebee said:
Look at Briscoelab's thread where his new Niner EMD size L is sub-22 pounds.
Building your own is easy. Just start an Excel Spreadsheet with all of your components and their weights so you can adjust and plug and play components in the spreadsheet to see the total weight.
There are certain standard ways to get a lighter bike, so I'll just point you in a direction to start a list of a bunch of those standard components:
Shifters: SRAM twist shifters. X.0, X.9, X.7 - they are all light
Grips: get some foam grips - Bontrager Race X lites fit perfectly with the SRAM twisties and will weigh only about 15g for the pair when trimmed - or 18g untrimmed with trigger shifters
QR: KCNC quick release skewers at 45g for the pair
Seatpost: Don't mess around, just get the Thomson Masterpiece
Seatpost collar: Token at 8-9g
Saddle: Anything in the 190g - 210g range will suffice (WTB Rocket SLT - 210g; WTB Silverado SKT - 190g; WTB Devo Carbon or SLT - 190 or 195g)
Derailleurs: SRAM X.0/X.9 for the rear and the front doesn't really matter (although if running a 2 x 9 you can use a Shimano Dura-Ace road front derailleur and shave grams)
Brakes: Whatever sub 800g disc brake system you can afford
Cassette: XTR or even lighter, this one.
Stem: Syntace F99
Bars: Your choice as long as they are under 185g
Fork: Reba Race or Fox
Wheels: American Classic Disc - 1650g; NoTubes ZTR Race - 1370g; Custom Built wheels targeting the weight range of 1650 - 1800g weight range. Getting light wheels will most likely be the most expensive portion of your light bike. But you can still get to 25 pounds or below with a wheelset that weighs 1800 - 1900g and save some $$$ for the other components.
Crankset: XTR; RaceFace Next XC; Middleburn Duo or Triple; etc... . Lots of used market lighter ways to go as well (older Race Face Next LP; Turbines are both super light XC cranks and are on eBay from time to time)
Pedals: Shoot for something in the 195 - 225g range for clipless pedals (Crank Brothers, Xpedo, etc...)
Tires: Sub 600g tires front and rear run tubeless or with light tubes
I would say expect, if buying new, to spend $2K - $2.5K, $3K, $4K and maybe even $5K as you move from the 25 pound level down to the 22 pound level. That is not a lot of money for a light bike - in spite of all those that will moan about it. You gotta pay to play. Each pound - more or less - will run you another grand. The best company I have seen that builds light bikes using great components is Scott. Check out their new XC HT's to see what the spec on them to get ideas for components and price. In particular, look at the Scott Scale HT bikes. Those are all 26" bikes, but you'll get the idea of a company doing it right. The lightest Scale weighs 18 pounds and costs $11K. The heaviest Scale weighs 28 pounds and costs around $1K. The 8 models of Scales between those 2 clearly show the weight and price differences as you add or take off weight.
BB
P.S. My XL size Dos Niner (closest thing I have to a HT) weighs 24 and change with my "heavy" wheelset and tires...
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