I first came across Moziah Bridges when watching an episode of Shark Tank. I am a huge fan of the show and i loved that an 11 year old kid was given the opportunity to be on it and pitch his business. When he was 9, Moziah launched a bow tie business he calls Mo’s Bows. His company mad 350,000 dollars in sales in three years starting in 2011 and nearly matched that in 2015 alone.  He sells his bow ties in shops and boutiques in numerous states as well as in his online store.  What was special about Moziah is that these bow ties had some sentimental meaning to them. His grandmother who is a retired seamstress taught him how to make and design his own bowties since she knew he always had a passion for fashion at a young age.  He took this passion and looked at someone he could mold himself after. That person is Daymond John. Moziah got to meet Daymond on Shark Tank and he now serves as a  mentor to Mo’s Bows.  HIs courage and determination to get on Shark Tank is impressive and would stand out for anyone let alone a kid.

One of the more intriguing stories of a young entrepreneur i read is that of Alina Morse. It is intriguing because i feel as if she is the young girl that is speaking and acting for every little kid in what they have always wanted.  It is remarkable that at the age of 9 she was able to see a problem she had and find the opportunity to not only fix that problem but make money off of fixing that problem.  She loved lollipops but was not able to enjoy them as frequently as she would like to due to the unhealthy nature of the candy.  After doing some research and getting some help from her father she was able to create a sugar free lollipop that tastes good while also doing good things for your teeth. Using natural sweeteners and ingredients, she created her product. The lollipop tasted good while also neutralizing acidity in the mouth so that tooth decaying bacteria is unable to grow.  She turned this into a business called Zollipops that had 70,000 dollars in sales in a year and got her featured on the kids edition of Shark Tank. She wont stop until her products are a staple in dentist offices and schools across the country.

Sebastian Martinez is a 7 year old CEO of his own company.  Sebastian had a small article written on him by CNBC for being such a young entrepreneur and also a philanthropist.  Sebastian always had a passion for bright and exciting socks so one day his mother suggested he designed his own.  This resulted in Martinez making his own business called Are You Kidding. In 2014, he made 15,000 dollars selling his specialty socks with the help of his director of sales and older brother Brandon.  In the months following the start of 2015, they had already matched the previous year total and were on track to double or triple their sales.

What makes Sebastian so special, besides the fact that he is a 7 year old CEO, is the fact that he also has a passion for philanthropy.  Are you Kidding teamed up with the American Cancer Society as well as the Live Like Bella Foundation to raise more than 3,000 dollars for cancer awareness. From one of the socks he calls the “Eye See You” sock, he donated 25 percent of the sales to Discovery Arts.  This is a charitable organization that brings art programs to children with serious illnesses.  I appreciate how at such a young age Sebastian recognized his two passions and combined them to make money and help the people around him who are not as fortunate.

Vicente Fernandez is a cool story of a transition from student athlete to CEO.  He grew up in Miami, Florida and spent most of his childhood playing or watching sports. His dream was always to be a sports broadcaster and although he never quite made it to that, he was right with the industry he thought he would make it into one day.  He played football throughout high school and continued his career at the University of Chicago. While there he worked as the sports editor for the school newspaper.

This is when his idea began to take form.  He started a sports organization called the Sports Business Team as a resource for students with an interest in the field.  This led to an internship program with the Chicago Bulls. After learning that he no longer wanted to go into sports broadcasting.  Shortly thereafter his mom told him that she wanted to start a sports website with his help. After a short conversation with his mom and some long brainstorming sessions of his own, SportsManias was born.

SportsManias is a website/app that is designed to deliver 24/7 professional beat writer journalism with team and player tweets. It is for the ultimate die hard fan.  Its concept is projected as the straight from the guys who get it, sportsmanias gets it to you. It highlights beat writers as the best source for inside scoops on teams. They have partnered with some notable NFL players such as receivers Julio Jones and Jeremy Maclin.  The thing i like most about this idea is that it is a need that Vicente wanted himself and went and fulfilled it. He knew there was a market and people for it because him and his friends and teammates were all some of the people that would have and do use the product. I also enjoyed his story because i can very much relate to a lot of his passions and what he enjoys.

I first heard of Tyler Haney and her company Outdoor Voices from an article on forbes about it.  Outdoor Voices is an athletic apparel brand that has grown in popularity with it culminating in getting Haney on the Forbes 2016 under 30 list of top entrepreneurs.  In the article i read it talks about Haney’s journey all the way back to her home life growing up.

She grew up in Boulder, Colorado where she loved to hike, play basketball, and hurdle. She did not enjoy the usual messaging on spandex clothing that consisted of words like harder, better, faster, stronger. Instead of going to run track in college she took a gap year before deciding on a business school in New York City. While there she became obsessed with technical materials and learning the science behind raw materials and how they work with your body in different states of sweat.

This was the beginning of her interest in making her own clothing line.  She used up all of her savings and even some of her families and friends in order to launch Outdoor Voices in 2013.  Instead of the usual neon colors or shiny spandex she intended for her clothes to not show sweat during exercise. She is going after a market that more enjoys activity rather than making everything competitive. She calls her customers people who are active but not defined by it. She opened her first retail store in 2014 in Austin, Texas where her brand is headquartered. Since then she has opened a few more and hopes to continue to grow and succeed as a young entrepreneur.

A very interesting entrepreneur, in my humble opinion, is Andrew Mason.  Andrew is the founder and former CEO of Groupon with a net worth of 200 million dollars.  Andrew is particularly interesting to me because he is from Pittsburgh, relatively close to where i am from.  Andrew started at a pretty young age  when he started a saturday morning delivery service called Bagel Express.  What i admire the most about him is his perseverance and drive to ultimately be successful no matter what.  He attributes this work ethic to a recording engineer named Steve Albini when he interned at Electrical Audio recording studio in Chicago, Illinois.  He also was very confident in his business, which i truly admire, to the point that he turned down a 6 billion dollar offer from Google in 2010.  Something interesting about Andrew that may not be the best trait, but something i respect is his ability to stay true to who he was and not letting the money change him.  He was known as a big kid who enjoyed keeping it light around the office and goofing around with employees. He did not have a good balance, however, and it resulted in him getting fired from the CEO position.  As a result, it is important to recognize the delicate balance that is needed in the business world and that Andrew definitely could have done a better job at that.