If you are a female or know any girls, you are most likely aware of the recent internet phenomenon that is Pinterest. The site is described on a large spectrum from time-sucking white-girl website, to a corporate advertising tool to a useful personal bookmark manager. However, regardless of how it has been taken it is undeniably true that Pinterest has had incredible success being valued at over 7.7 billion dollars and serving 70 million registered users. The man to thank for the multifaceted Pinterest juggernaut is Ben Silbermann, founder in 2010 at only 27 years old.

For many it’s surprising that the founder of a site with a 70% female demographic is male. He has reported that the idea came to him when he was attempting to develop a system through which to manage the bookmarks on his computer, thus was born Pinterest. After the initial programming, Ben originally shared his creation only with friends and family. After receiving a mountain of positive feedback he decided to make it available publically, but by invitation from a current user only. Requests for invites exploded, and never stopped growing.

My first exposure to Pinterest was from my now sister-in-law as she was planning her wedding. I have to say that I didn’t quite take to it at first, not being the girl who plans her wedding at 16. However, with continued exposure I came to see how good Pinterest was at having something for everyone, and just how useful it was to keep track of the vast amount of internet content that appealed to me. A secondary benefit pointed out by the founder specifically for men is that if you keep track of your significant other’s Pinterest board you’ll never be wanting for gift ideas.

Ben is a quiet, unobtrusive but solid entrepreneur. He isn’t a big flashy persona taking his newfound wealth and beginning radical endeavors, but he is continuing to solidly evolve and run where he originally found success. His advice to budding entrepreneurs is as follows;

“Don’t take too much advice….Most people generalize whatever they did, and say that was the strategy that made it work…In reality, there’s very little way of knowing how various factors contributed to success or failure”.

In 2009 a young woman named Kyle Smitley started Barley and Birch at only 22 years old. A recent graduate, Kyle wanted to create a company that featured fashionable children’s clothing, made with organic materials for an eco-friendly impact. She’s done this by making each aspect of the clothing carbon neutral. Additionally the company donates 15% of its revenue to charitable causes around the globe.

After their first year the company was hosted by over 30 different stores, and it continued to be featured on various blogs and magazines eventually becoming a multi-million dollar company.

Kyle Smitley was 30 years old when she realized that she wanted to do more. Instead of simply funding and donating to educational efforts and schools she decided to create and run them. She sold Barley and Birch in 2012.

In 2013 Kyle founded Detroit Achievement Academy, a charter school she founded with Chris Robb. “I’m not saying the school system is broken,” she says. “My whole goal was to come in and shake it up a little bit and raise the standards, so people can kind of see how we can deliver better results for kids.” Education is a unique form of entrepreneurship, but one at which Kyle is hoping to excel at for the rest of her life.

In 2000 Jake Nickell and Jacob DeHart recognized a unique opportunity in the area of e-commerce and crowd-funded design. See the reality of young, talented artists unable to monetize their creations because of a lack of connections they create a profitable solution. Jake and Jacob put up $1000 of their own money to found “Threadless”. This unique company capitalizes on the notion of customers providing their own market research by getting them to vote on various designs before they go into production ensuring a consumer market when the chosen products come to fruition. This unique business model has proven extremely profitable. By 2004 Threadless had their own self-sufficient warehouse and manufacturing facility, with revenues over 1.5 million, and in two years they rose to 6.5 million. In 2008, Threadless was featured on the cover of Inc. as “The Most Innovative Small Company in America” and it continues to make a 30% profit margin.

There are many things that make Threadless unique, but most notably is undoubtedly the amazing sense of community it creates between the artists and consumers.

Contests are often run, and the regularity of amazing new designs keep customers coming back again and again.

There are amazing people who start companies and invent genius products and make millions before they break 30. However, even more special are the young people that find it in themselves and their hearts to dedicate their time and energy to helping those less fortunate. Neha Gupta spent her early birthdays traveling to her parent’s home village in India and handing out gifts and supplies to orphans. This inspired her in 2006 at only 9 years old to start “Empower Orphans” and organization dedicated towards making a difference in the lives of India’s orphans.

Since the founding Empower Orphans has raised more than $1 million dollars for various education and healthcare benefits for the children living in harsh conditions. Neha has established 4 libraries and 5 schools built water wells along with countless other beneficial endeavors.

Empower Orphans was also names the Global Winner of World of Children Award which is considered the Nobel Prize for child advocacy.

All in all, it is an incredible amount of difference for one 17 year old. For someone to recognize at only 9 years old the kind of difference that they can make is they use their time to benefit those less fortunate.

Cameron Johnson is an example of a pure serial entrepreneur. In 1994 when he was only 9 years old Cameron began making invitations for his family’s Christmas party. Word of his talent spread and after two years he had saved several thousand dollars through his “Tears and Cheers” card company.

He then turned to wholesale buying and reselling of Ty Beanie Babies utilizing ebay during the peak of the Beanie Baby fad. In less than a year he had banked $50,000 which he then used to start a forwarding email service “EZ Mail” which began to generate $3,000 per month in advertising revenue. He was thirteen years old.

In 1997 he started an online advertising company called “Surfingprizes.com” using a pyramid referral strategy. “I was 15 years old and receiving checks between $300,000 and $400,000 per month,” said Johnson. “Before my high school graduation, my combined assets were worth more than $1 million.”

After less than one semester at Virginia Polytechnic Institute Cameron dropped out to form Certificatswap.com which he then sold at only 19 for an undisclosed “six-figure” amount.

Cameron Johnson is now 24 years old and spends his time lecturing around the world on Entrepreneurship and making television appearances. His advice is to simply, “Put yourself out there. Don’t be afraid of rejection. Don’t be afraid to ask anything.”