One of the most explosively popular iPhone apps in the last decade was developed by a 14-year-old. That’s right, a 14-year-old. An eighth grader from Utah, Robert Nay, created Bubble Ball in 2010, pouring hours of time and thousands of lines of code into what would become an extremely popular physics-based iOS game in which players must manipulate a course to navigate a ball to the end. Nay, an avid math student and video gamer, said that he just took ideas from his favorite games at the time and combined them into one concept. In the first week of being on the App Store, Bubble Ball surpassed 1 million total downloads and quickly overtook Angry Birds as the most downloaded game on the App Store charts.
This incredible rise did not come without some prior programming experience. Nay taught himself how to program in third grade and created his first website shortly after. In middle school, a friend suggested to him that he learn how to code games for an iPod Touch. From there, Robert learned how to use an app development program called Corona, the program he used to create Bubble Ball all by himself. However, Robert himself claims he wasn’t necessarily naturally gifted in programming and learning to code, saying there were times where he seriously questioned his ability to make a working app. However, he pressed on and was able to complete a project that became extremely popular. Since then, Nay Games has released a follow-up in Bubble Ball: Curiosity Addition, but has not released any other games. Bubble Ball is still available on the App Store today. Robert Nay’s drive to see his idea through despite his personal doubts is an example to other entrepreneurs who may encounter similar doubts to continue on and trust in their own abilities.
Mariano Arruda, better known as Squishy to the Rocket League community, has created a unique kind of business for himself. Arruda provides a unique skill set to his viewers across multiple platforms like YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, and Instagram.
Arruda, age 17, shows young entrepreneurs that they can become successful if they find their niche and work hard at it. Arruda begins his journey to success by winning DreamHack Atlanta 2017 with his own, unsigned team “The Muffin Men”. Arruda and his teammates were offered to sign with major eSport organization, Cloud9 where his career took off. Since then, Arruda and his team has placed in the top 4 finalist for every major tournament collecting $123,750 for his team and organization. Squishy, Mariano Arruda, exemplifies what it means to be a young entrepreneur by providing high level competitive showcases to viewers of all types.