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Archive for Youngest Entrepreneurs – Page 13

Technology and Toys

Posted by Erin Sixt

· Tuesday, December 1st, 2015

· 5 Comments

Evan, a nine year old entrepreneur, has it made. It’s estimated that he will make $1.3 million a year. Doing what? Reviewing toys. His channel, Evan Tube, has over 2.8 million subscribers and over a billion people have viewed his videos, and it’s easy to see why. After visiting his YouTube channel, it’s clear that Evan Tube is the ultimate kid fun zone. There’s videos of him at Universal, doing the “Chubby Bunny” challenge, reviewing the new whip cream in your face game, this kid does it all. Oh, and he’s been doing this since he was five.

This young man has created a brand for himself that has been so successful. Moms and kids know they can visit his channel to get reliable unbiased information from a fun kid perspective. It is the perfect package.

Who knew that technology and toys is all you need to create a successful business? I didn’t. I’m so astonished that a child can create this amazing story for himself all through using technology that was accessible to him and playing with toys that he was already using anyway. Evan, you are a true success!

5 Comments

Categories : Great Ideas, Technology, Toys, Uncategorized, Youngest Entrepreneurs, YouTube

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

13-Year-Old Bow Tie Connoisseur

Posted by Jordan Hudock

· Saturday, November 14th, 2015

· 5 Comments

(Image from mosbowsmemphis.com)

I’ve loved Moziah Bridges ever since I saw him on Shark Tanka few years ago. He’s thirteen and he has his own bow tie company. He started it when he was nine under the supervision of his mom, Tramica. The thing I love most about his company is how cool the brand is. Everything about it, from the story to the bow tie designs to the way his website is set up, seems to flow together to form one coherent brand that is totally his own. He’s been successful, too. This year alone, he’s projected to make $250,000 in revenue. He sells mainly through his online store but has branched out into shops and boutiques across the United States, too.

I think his story is inspiring because he’s a perfect example that all you need to start a great company is a vision and a support system. He had no experience with the fashion industry when he got into it at nine years old, just a dream and a helpful mom. It’s grown into something huge, just because he had the courage to start.

Moziah still has a lot of dreams he’s chasing after. His goal is to be in college with his own clothing line by the time he’s 20. He also wants to get more involved with charities. Right now, he’s donating money from his business to help his local community center in Memphis.

I think Moziah’s story is fantastic. It’s a simple and classic example of what can happen when you have good intentions and a vision for where you want to go. We can all learn a lot from him.

5 Comments

Categories : Apparel/Accessories, Fashion, Great Ideas, Millennial Enrepreneuers, Millennial Entrepreneurs, Shark Tank, Websites, Youngest Entrepreneurs

Tags : bow ties, kid entrepreneurs

A Millionaire High School Dropout

Posted by Alan Brennen

· Friday, October 30th, 2015

· 3 Comments

Some of the wealthiest business men have dropped out of school at early ages. From Richard Branson (16) to David Karp (11) to even Benjamin Franklin (10) are included on this list and we all know that they turned out to be okay in life! Taso Du Val has just added his name to this prestigious list of early dropouts to riches. Taso Du Val is a software savant who has had a passion for technology from a very early age in his life.

Taso entered the workforce and joined a startup called Fotolog (business dealing with photo-sharing) as a lead engineer. After Fotolog was bought for $100 million in 2007 he joined another business startup as a lead engineer at Mark Levchin’s company (co-founder of PayPal) called Slide, which was bought by Google in 2010 for $228 million. Du Val, without a doubt, had some early luck and success landing prestigious positions in startups with not much of an academic background that gave him some key foundations for the challenges he will set out to accomplish in the future.

Du Val is currently helping other engineers land great jobs, as well as building his very own multimillion-dollar startup he helped co-found called TopTal. TopTal is based out of San Francisco and connects freelance software developers with businesses in need of programming expertise, rigorously screening applicants and making matches based on each client’s unique project demands and related factors like workplace culture.

Du Val’s story relates a lot to our class as our professor frequently stresses the concept of identifying a problem and thinking of a solution. Du Val recognized there was a problem and heard many complaints about the other players in the game and sought out to capitalize on it. There was a need and an opportunity that had yet to be met. Entrepreneurship cant exactly be taught and is hardwired into very few people. Some people are just naturally gifted with business smarts and others have to work harder to come by it.

The most important lesson to be learned by his story, no matter what your education or background is, just getting out there and doing it is the most important thing.

3 Comments

Categories : Great Ideas, Millennial Enrepreneuers, Uncategorized, Youngest Entrepreneurs

Chalk it Up

Posted by Lindy Bowser

· Wednesday, October 28th, 2015

· 3 Comments

William Zhou, born in 1992, always assumed a teacher’s job was easy. They taught out of the book, handed out papers, and had three months of the year to lay on the beach. Not too bad, right? He began observing his high school teacher’s lesson planning and grading of papers when he noticed how not so simple it was to run a classroom. He first creates Planboard to help lesson planning easier. Extremely successful, Planboard later wins $25,000 from the University of Waterloo Velocity Venture Fund and a partnership with Ontario Teachers’ Federation. With a growing user fan base, Zhou expands the service to Chalk.com, a Microsoft-like software tool for teacher collaboration, lesson planning, and assessment.

Chalk.com aims to make it easier on teachers to provide a beneficial learning place. The goal is to encourage a personalized education for student success. Browsing on their site, it is easy to pick up on how youthful the service is. All the company leaders are under the age of 40 and along the side of the page are quotes of co-founders Zhou and Fleming who have experienced the power of education through amazing teachers and family members. Just out of school themselves, these leaders know first-hand the work that goes into a great classroom lesson.

Students complain all the time (especially in high school) about not getting a grade back fast enough. We groan and whine at our teachers asking juvenile questions like, “What else do you have to do during the year? You have the entire summer off!” Zhou thought the same thing, until he started exploring. If Zhou had not looked closer at what a teacher does to create a great classroom atmosphere, he would have never noticed the struggle teachers go through on a daily basis. Chalk.com looks to lighten the burden of lesson planning, grading, and assessing through an easy-to use software system approved by over 20,000 schools worldwide.

See Chalk.com

3 Comments

Categories : Education, Millennial Enrepreneuers, Online Companies, Youngest Entrepreneurs

5 Under 30 African Entrepreneurs

Posted by Lindy Bowser

· Monday, October 12th, 2015

· 2 Comments

Africa?! That’s right, Africa. Forbes Magazine has announced their top 30 under 30 successful entrepreneurs thriving in Africa. Other things dwell in those deserts: innovation and creativity.

1. Mubarak Muyika, 20: Kenya

Orphaned at the age of 10, Mubarak worked hard to be a star student. Turning down an offer from Harvard, he began his journey as an entrepreneur through Hypecentury Technologies, a web hosting technology, which he later sold for a 6 digital price tag. Now, Mubarak spends his time tinkering with his new idea, Zagace. The cloud based software organizes company tasks such as payroll, accounting, and company budgets.

2. Affiong Williams, 29: Nigeria

Founder of Reelfruit, a fruit packaging company focused on packaging and branding local fruits in a safe and reliable way. Reelfruit has made a presence in over 80 supermarkets all over Nigeria and has won 2 awards in the Netherlands and in Nigeria. Affiong pushes herself to the max and hopes to expand Reelfruit internationally.

3. Arthur Zang, 27: Cameroon

Zang noticed the problem of African patients living in rural areas having to travel to urban areas to receive medical attention. Distance can be life or death in a medical emergency. In response, he invents Cardiopad, a medical tablet (like an ipad) that preforms heart examinations much like an ECG. The device then sends the information electronically to medical professionals who can interpret them and suggest treatments. Zang is also the owner and founder of Himore Medical Equipments.

4. Julie Alexander Fourie, 28: South Africa

In his dorm room at the University of Stellenbosch, Julie would repair the small devices of colleagues for fun. With encouragement from his friends, he starts iFix, an organization that fixes all Apple and Samsung smart phones. Today, the company employs 40 people and serves more than 4,000 clients a month.

5. Ludwick Marishane, 25: South Africa

Asked by a friend in High School, “why doesn’t someone invent something that you can put on your skin and then you don’t have to bathe?”, Ludwick invents DryBath, a gel that provides all the effects of a bath without the need for water. Ludwick was later voted the best student entrepreneur in the world by Entrepreneurs Organization and declared one of the most intelligent young brains in the universe by Google.

See all 30 entrepreneurs here: 30 Under 30

2 Comments

Categories : Great Ideas, Millennial Enrepreneuers, Youngest Entrepreneurs

16-Year Old Millionaire Necklace Maker

Posted by Jordan Hudock

· Saturday, October 3rd, 2015

· 4 Comments

Maddie Bradshaw is popular on the blog tonight. Like Grace, I researched Bradshaw for this post. I want to talk about her success from a slightly different angle, though. As you might have read from Grace’s awesome post, Maddie Bradshaw is a 16-year-old millionaire. She designs and sells Snap Caps, creative bottle caps that can be worn as jewelry. She has 25 employees and sells over 60,000 necklaces each month.

I found her story particularly interesting because she isn’t selling something that solves a huge, mind-boggling problem. In fact, she’s similar to Apple in that she’s giving people something they didn’t even know they wanted.

So, why are people buying from her? Anyone can make a simple necklace, and many companies do. What sets Bradshaw apart? She presents Snap Caps as the necklace that celebrates and brings out a girl’s unique qualities. Each necklace has a theme, whether fairytale or music or ladybugs or faith. Girls choose the ones they think fit their personality. Just like Zappos, she’s putting a bigger “why” behind a product most people don’t usually think much about.

Her approach fits right into the “conceptual age” idea we were talking about in class. To have a place in the market, products need to be more than just functional. They need to stand for something. Snap Caps stand for uniqueness.

Bradshaw’s success shines far beyond her net worth. She has appeared on multiple TV Shows, like The View and Shark Tank, and has even published her own book, You Can Start a Business, Too. Her biggest piece of advice to young entrepreneurs is to follow your passion. She says, “If you come up with an idea and you love it, chances are other people will, too.” I think people forget this a lot. They don’t work towards something they love because they’re scared it won’t interest others. That has certainly been true for me and many people I know. Bradshaw is a wonderful reminder that you can create a business around any passion. She took the risk most people wouldn’t have and it’s paying off for her in amazing ways.

(Image: The Toggery)

4 Comments

Categories : Apparel/Accessories, Art, Beauty, Blog, Fashion, Jewelry, Millennial Enrepreneuers, Millennial Entrepreneurs, Youngest Entrepreneurs

Tags : bradshaw, necklace

Makeup Madness

Posted by Lindy Bowser

· Thursday, October 1st, 2015

· 4 Comments

Rejected by Lancome as a makeup artist, Phan started a hobby she loved- filming makeup tutorials out of the comfort of her own home. After two years of YouTubing, Lancome’s executive noticed her artistry and signed her as the company’s first official video makeup artist. Since then, Phan has increased company annual sales rate by $120 million.

Now, Phan has made her mark on the digital world. Wanting to expand her horizons, Phan created Ipsy in San Mateo, California. Ipsy partners with a multitude of different makeup brands to deliver trendy bags to subscribers every month for a $10 fee. These Glam Bags are themed to the specific month for the perfect facial style every girl may need. With 1.7 million YouTube subscribers, 1 million watchers are loyal members to the Glam Bag fashion in locations including both the United States and Canada.

Ipsy employs over 100 people and is a rival to the fashionable Birchbox. BirchBox spends millions in PR, TV advertisements, and online outreach while Phan increases subscriptions by 100,000 per month on her videos alone. No marketing techniques, not a dime spent on PR.

She is not stopping there. Phan is in progress of developing her own app with photo and video editing software to fulfill one of her career aspirations- educating young followers with tech proficiencies and other skills to make them marketable to employers. Striving to change the world, Phan has travelled with Michelle Obama to Japan as part of The White House’s “Let Girls Learn Initiative”, and wrote her own novel, Make Up: Your Life Guide to Beauty, Style, and Success — Online and Off . This young dreamer is no longer looking to make an impact with just face products, she is working to be an influential role model to every single one of her subscribers.

“My dream is to see a new generation of entrepreneurs who are creating and having more meaningful jobs than the day-to-day grind.”

Phan YouTube Tutorial

4 Comments

Categories : Beauty, Uncategorized, Youngest Entrepreneurs

Catherine Cook- Memories of Money!

Posted by Alan Brennen

· Monday, September 28th, 2015

· 2 Comments

Catherine Cook’s life is the perfect story of living the American Dream. She is a true millennial entrepreneur and has made millions in her teens! The beginning stages of her entrepreneurial spirit took place when she at a very young age, she sold books in her homemade library to her parents for a small charge. When she turned 15 years old, she started a business called myYearbook with her brother in New Jersey. She partnered up with her brother David, and they were kick started by her older brother, Geoff, who made an investment to get them up-and-running.

Her business, myYearbook, which was started in 2005 with 400 members that went to school at her local high school. She grew her business immensely through great marketing strategies and a true passion. In 2012 it grew to an astounding 32.7 million users, which is the same year she sold their family business for 150 million dollars…

The success and the money were a byproduct of love and passion. Her brilliance in social networking led her to be on of the youngest self-made millionaires in the world. MyYearbook makes most of their revenue through online advertising. High school and college graduates go on myYearbook to reunite and touch base with old classmates.

Through Catherine, lessons can be taught to all of us, especially young entrepreneurs like ourselves. It starts with a simple idea, and having the ambition and passion to get out there and act on it. At a young age of 15 years old, she saw a problem that could be solved by herself. We are the millennial age and have the strongest position ever in human history. We have so many tools and resources at our disposal. Catherine, herself, proved you are never to young to start a business. Now is our time, let’s go out and conquer the world.

2 Comments

Categories : Academia, Blog, Great Ideas, Millennial Enrepreneuers, Social Entrepreneur, Youngest Entrepreneurs