Maxx Yung claims that entrepreneurship is about selling a passion. In his scholarship award winning essay, Yung writes about the badminton racket stringing services he provides. This simply started with his high school team, and has spread across the New York City and Long Island regions. What makes him different than any other professional? He has the equipment, and he’s gained the expertise. Maxx Yung has established himself by offering a lower price point, even when he could be charging two times what he does. Why? Because he cares so much about badminton, he wants to make it more easily accessible to everyone. THAT is truly what he’s selling.

Vasya Tremsin, CEO & Founder of Torch Sensors

Wild fires in California, everyone knows about them, but what’s being done to stop them? Vasya Tremsin developed Torch Sensors, a sensor that can detect gas, temperature, and humidity from extensive mileage in order to detect and predict fires. This was a significant geographical problem where no exponential progress was being made towards a solution. Torch Sensors was just a high school science fair project to begin with, but that was irrelevant. With determination, passion, and constructive criticism, Tremsin continued down his path of success. He claims it was difficult to gain trust due to his age. “As a very young person, I’ve had to prove that our technology does what we claim it does,” he says. “Because it’s so novel and has not been done before, there’s a lot of initial skepticism about what our product can do.” After initial product explanation, and continued discussion, it is backed by evidence that Torch Sensors has won the hearts of many. Now, the team actually can’t keep up with the heavy demand for sensor placements. This is good problem to have that can be resolved simply with increased production rates after more revenue has been brought in.