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Archive for Millennial Entrepreneurs – Page 14

Olan Rogers

Posted by Joseph Fitzpatrick

· Saturday, October 8th, 2016

· 4 Comments

Olan Rogers is best known for his personality. Because, quite simply, personality what he conveys most through all that he does. While Olan Rogers was best known for his comedic stories he tells on his YouTube channel, his personality shines through all the many other projects he has started.

Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Olan rogers started his video blog series back in 2010 after graduating from the University of Memphis with Bachelor’s in Communication and Visual Arts. Since, starting his youtube channel, it has accumulated quite a subscriber base in the past six years. This is mostly due to his charming and hilarious story-telling videos that have gone viral multiple times. However, this is not all that his YouTube channel provides. In addition to stories and short, comedic sketches, his channel also hosts his feature length indie professional films recognized by IMDB.com such as Pop Rocket and New Prime.

Additionally, Rogers has launched his own clothing supply store where he sells merchandise related to his video content as well as apparel displaying art or clever sayings. Since launching his online clothing store, Rogers also opened The Soda Parlor, a store that provides a welcoming and chill atmosphere, selling apparel, artisan sodas, and floats. The Soda Parlor is located in Nashville and a second location will be opening later this Fall.

Beginning in 2017, Olan Rogers will be starting production on three more film projects under his newest project, Battle Bear Productions LLC. Under Battle Bear, Olan will provide animated tv shows as well as continuations of other film projects that he has started on his YouTube channel.

Feel free to check out his content below!

https://www.youtube.com/user/OlanRogers

http://olanrogerssupply.com/

https://www.facebook.com/olanrogersofficial

4 Comments

Categories : Blog, Film, Food, Millennial Entrepreneurs, Websites, YouTube

Parker’s Maple

Posted by Alex Halton

· Friday, October 7th, 2016

· No Comments

As an 11 year old, Joshua Parker took a school field trip that would change the rest of his life. That trip fashioned a passion for maple syrup that could not be quelled in Joshua. Four years later, he turned that passion into a business that is thriving today, Parker’s Maple. Parker’s Maple produces real maple syrup, real maple butter, and real maple cotton candy. In 2015, Joshua Parker was interviewed by Glenn Beck on his nationally syndicated radio show and six months later Parker’s Maple products could be found in over 500 stores in 50 states and four countries.

Joshua Parker took a passion that developed at a young age and turned that into a company with a unique product and a unique passion. Today, Parker’s Maple is becoming more well known and will be appearing on the nationally televised TV show, Shark Tank. With the help of Glenn Beck and publicity like Shark Tank as well as the growing consumer demand for real maple, Parker’s Maple will continue to grow exponentially into the future.

No Comments

Categories : Food, Great Ideas, Millennial Entrepreneurs

Woodchuck-Ben Vanden Wymelenberg

Posted by Emily Krofcheck

· Wednesday, September 28th, 2016

· 3 Comments

Ben Vanden Wymelenberg’s, at the young age of 22, generated a business idea while he was supposed to be studying at school. Little did he know that this business idea would rocket into a very successful venture. I have to say, this is a dream for many of us students, especially within the entrepreneurship department.

One night, while building a project for one of his college classes, Ben placed a small section of wood on top of his iPhone while testing out his project. The wood was shaped slightly like a case, and ended up fitting his phone like a glove. Not only this but he loved the way it looked! This minuscule experimentation ignited an idea that would take Ben and his life to new heights. Along with his college friend Kevin Groenjes, Ben launched Woodchuck.

Woodchuck is a company that manufactures real wood cases for phones, tablets, laptops and headphones. They were unique in that each piece of wood is handpicked and can be customized to the customer’s specifications. As the company’s website says, “Using the finest woods, Woodchuck offers decor and storage to bring nature back into your life”. The company’s passion for the product led to a deals with numerous businesses. These include the Mall of America, Best Buy, Target, and more. In fact, Ben and Kevin just signed a national distribution deal and are planning the launch of Woodchuck stores across the US.

Ben’s idea for the company not only came from a little experiment, but also from past personal experiences that shaped his views. The 2008 financial crisis personally effected his hometown. Having seen the tolls of this, Ben decided to manufacture, print, and assemble Woodchuck cases in within the US. These men remained committed to keeping Woodchuck products American-made, creating jobs within the US.

The company’s mission is “Putting nature back into people’s lives”. The company has recently partnered with a non-profit called Outdoor Nation. Together their hope is to re-kindling the bond that man had with nature. With the determination of the Woodchuck team, its commitment to “Made in the USA”, and its mission, the company has caught the eye of many! This specific case has made me realize that having a product/business idea doesn’t have to be completely new and un-thought of, it just has to have the right and unique mission and team driving it in the right direction!

3 Comments

Categories : Millennial Entrepreneurs

Mashable

Posted by Leona Bently

· Monday, September 26th, 2016

· 1 Comment

Image result for pete cashmore

Mashable is a top 10 multi million dollar blog that reaches audiences of all sorts; from the tech world to sports, to news stories with hot and relevant information on the top new products and info in the market. In 2005 it’s founder Pete Cashmore started this revolutionary data generator at the tender age of 19. His clever blog design, quick tips, tech advice, and social cultural aspects have attracted over 29 million followers on the many social media platforms he posts on. Cashmore grew his business from the ground up by adding sites for consumer contact and departments in the company itself to expand the empire. On the site itself found here, http://mashable.com/, you will find a variety of posts on a variety of topics for a variety of viewers. Its humorous takes on noteworthy company failures, quick views on sports games and reviews of new tech products and software are what make the blog so successful. By 2012 Cashmore was ranked in Time Magazines Top 100 Most Influential People for his great work in the social media world. Along with Mashable’s commitment to excellence and accuracy in their posts, Cashmore has also committed it to give back to the community by finding job opportunities in the career realms of “technology and social media, marketing and business, and design and development.” It also promises to attribute to a concept of “Social Good” to “make the world a better place.” In all these senses of this company I believe Mashable and its founder are both the stuff of the future we need to continue to push us into the future.

1 Comment

Categories : Blog, Databases, Millennial Enrepreneuers, Millennial Entrepreneurs, Technology, Websites, Youngest Entrepreneurs

Better Than a Lemonade Stand

Posted by Hannah Hastings

· Monday, September 26th, 2016

· No Comments

When I was about 15 years old, the town of Falmouth in Cape Cod decided to replace an old train track with a biking trail that extended several miles to Woods Hole, a popular tourist hot spot. That summer I ventured from my family’s summer home to see what the new bike trail had to offer in places I had never seen due to overgrown weeds – and that was how I met Patrick. Patrick was only 14, yet already had a summer business that was raking in hundreds annually to go toward his future college tuition.

Patrick’s parents had made it clear at a young age that if he wanted to go to college, he was going to have to start saving early because they couldn’t afford the debt. His home was on an average Falmouth road – quiet and lazy, yet also bustling in the summer with people biking or walking to the beach. At the age of 12, he borrowed $1,000 to purchase a high quality shaved ice making machine and flavoring, and set up a table at the side of the road to sell shaved ice to the passerbys. It didn’t take long for the revenue to start flowing like water, and he gained regular customers who would specifically travel down his road to purchase his shaved ice. When Falmouth ripped out the railroad in favor of the trail, his business exploded. By the time I met him, his table had become a semi-permanent booth that boasted the shaved ice machine, dozens of flavors, fresh squeezed lemonade, other refreshments like Gatorade and Sprite, and even had a shady section off to the side with benches and tables. The bike trail brought a boom of tourists and natives from other towns, and he had already saved several thousand dollars when I first met him.

One thing I truly admired was his commitment to his original goal of saving the money for his future tuition. He was already a levelheaded businessman at the young age of 14, and the vast majority of his revenue went straight into his savings instead of his pockets. It was brilliant for him to realize at age 12 that virtually no one sold shaved ice in our area and in the surrounding towns, and he was able to capitalize on that advantage very quickly before others caught on and did the same. While I haven’t seen Patrick in a few years, I am quite confident that his business is still there, improving, and thriving during the hot Cape Cod summers.

No Comments

Categories : College, Food, Millennial Entrepreneurs, Outdoors, Youngest Entrepreneurs

Tags : Cape Cod, Innovation, shaved ice, Summer

Oculus Rift

Posted by Shannon McDade

· Monday, December 14th, 2015

· 2 Comments

Palmer Luckey, a 22 year old, created a product called the Oculus. This product is a virtual reality headset that is used for gaming but can also be used for videos. However, he didn’t start his interest in creating a virtual reality, with the Oculus; rather, at age 14, he started small. In his garage, he would manipulate old iPhone’s and TV monitors into the beginnings of a virtual reality headset like the Oculus. After having developed many prototypes, one caught the eye of John Carmack, who is the founder and CEO of the tech company id Software. Carmack decided to show Luckey’s product at a gaming conference in 2012. A few days after the conference, Luckey dropped out of school and started Oculus with his friend Brendan Iribe, who is now CO of the company.

Soon after Luckey dropped out of school, he started a Kickstarter campaign to gain initial funding to create a marketable product. The goal for the Kickstarter campaign was $250,000. In the end, the campaign garnered around 2.4 million dollars after which a venture-capital company contributed 75 million to the same cause.

Now, the Oculus Rift is going into market for games and game makers are making specific games to cater to its use. Furthermore, Luckey sold the company to Facebook for 2 billion dollars. I’d say his tinkering in his garage was worth it.

Works Cited

Wolfe, A. (2015, August 7). Palmer Luckey: Making Virtual Reality a Reality. Retrieved December 13, 2015, from http://www.wsj.com/articles/palmer-luckey-making-virtual-reality-a-reality-1438959172

2 Comments

Categories : Millennial Entrepreneurs, Technology, Uncategorized

Andrew Mason- Groupon!

Posted by Alan Brennen

· Saturday, December 5th, 2015

· 2 Comments

Andrew Mason grew up in a family of entrepreneurs. His parents both owning their own business. Andrew seems to have inherited some of his parents genes, at age 15 he started a weekend bagel-delivery service called Bagel Express. He went on to found several more businesses until he hit an absolute gold mine. As he went on to co-found a massively successful business called groupon!

In 2008, Groupon was birthed out of a desire to improve to the concept of collective buying. Collective buying being- a practice in which a group of customers pledges to purchase a product from a vendor and the vendor in turn provides the product to the group at a reduced price. Mason starting the business with two partners. Mason became the company’s chief executive officer, while his partners took on other major roles in the company. By negotiating deep discounts on vendors’ products and services, Groupon sought to link vendors with new customers through its updated new day everyday deal for a spotlighted product or service as well as through other, less-prominent deals. Groupon has some amazing profit margins as it receives up to 50 percent of the retail value of the product or service. Which is pretty crazy.

After the massive success story Groupon has been, in 2010 Google took notice and wanted to buy them! Offering an amazing 6 billion dollars! Mason and his partners turned down the deal ultimately to keep ownership and the business as independently owned. In June of 2011 Groupon went public.

Groupon is a great success story of a young millennial entrepreneur that saw a market gap and had the audacity to capitalize on it!

2 Comments

Categories : Millennial Enrepreneuers, Millennial Entrepreneurs, Youngest Entrepreneurs

Elliott Bisnow

Posted by Dan Dorman

· Thursday, December 3rd, 2015

· 2 Comments

Trying to become an entrepreneur may be difficult without having any idea what kind of product or service you would like to provide for people. To make things even more challenging, is not having anyone to collaborate with and or brainstorm ideas. Often doing so may even lead to even more ideas you didn’t even think of. Well Elliott Bisnow created an organization to do exactly these things.

Bisnow founded the company Summit, which is really more of a community than a company, that helps bring entrepreneurs, innovators, and thought leaders together in a collaboration rich environment. In which they can strive to make a positive impact on the world. Among these people are the World’s best nonprofit leaders, entrepreneurs, artists, scientists, athletes, and change makers. All attendees are brought together through large scale annual events called the Summit Series.

Bisnow’s purpose for the Summit series is to create these environments that help immerse people in unique experiences that will result in long lasting relationships. Bisnow’s drive to use the power of collaboration for good is already starting to make an impact. The Summit series events have helped raise millions of dollars towards business, philanthropic, and environmental ventures.

Just two years ago Summit purchased Powder Mountain, which is located in Utah’s Northern mountain range, to create a permanent home for the Summit community. The Summit Powder Mountain community is a ski resort that will be the central site for all upcoming annual and year round events for the Summit Series.

Elliott Bisnow has created a service that will help the leaders around us to create positive growth.

2 Comments

Categories : Great Ideas, Millennial Enrepreneuers, Millennial Entrepreneurs, Social Entrepreneur

Clemence Wurtz

Posted by Alan Brennen

· Monday, November 16th, 2015

· 3 Comments

Clemence Wurtz is the co-founder and CEO of the new French startup SmartRent. Wurtz is a french millennial entrepreneur who has took the tech world by storm since 2013. At Start Up weekend in Paris in 2013, her name became known to the world as she beat out all 23 other tech-oriented companies at the age of 24!

Wurtz is not a fan of the current French culture. She is voicing for many old traditional ways to be done away with and a new process of thinking to be brought into the field to freshen things up. Starting with education, internships, and many other vital systems to a modern flourishing culture. Stating that many people in France are no longer seeking opportunity in the business world and have lost sight of believing in the possibilities that entrepreneurship brings.

Two quotes she has stated are absolutely great and love.

“Everything I do is about feeling.”

“I don’t know how other people just comply, comfort zones are boring, when you try and change something, you are alive.”

-Clemence Wurtz

Her business idea came to her when she was studying in New York City! When she returned to France, she immediately did a trial run and knew the future was in capitalizing the market in Paris. A apartment furnishing company for short-term apartment residents! Starting out in her parents garage, assembling and disassembling all the furniture herself. Her company is simply a service. You come to Paris to live, and need a place to live, with all furnished apartments expensive and out of most people’s price range. A complete hassle takes place as you are faced with a dilemma of only living there for a few months and a unfurnished apartment with no furniture, and in a short while being faced to sell and move it all out again.With SmartRent, use their service and select a package of your desire based on your space and other details and they will deliver and assemble it for you! When you leave, they will disassemble and move it out for you! This company is simple and charges a simple monthly rental fee that in most cases only costs a monthly internet bill. Impressive and Ingenious Thinking!

3 Comments

Categories : Millennial Enrepreneuers, Millennial Entrepreneurs, Youngest Entrepreneurs