Catharine and David Cook (brother and sister) were 15 and 16 respectively when they came up with the idea of MyYearbook.com in 2005. MyYearbook.com is basically Facebook for high school students to create their own yearbook profiles on. The idea to create an online version of a high school yearbook came to Catharine and David as they were flipping through their high school yearbook and wanting a more realistic way to see and connect with their fellow students. Rather than the inaccurate photos taken for the traditional yearbook, MyYearbook would feature more normal and natural pictures that students chose to post of themselves. Although I presume that an occasional student would still post an inaccurate picture of themselves, the general goal was to not do that in order to get to know other students better through their profiles. Catharine and David also added a place for students to name their extracurricular activities just like a yearbook would.

The idea of MyYearbook took root pretty quickly, and soon the Catharine and David’s little entrepreneurial undertaking was making them millions of dollars.

When I saw MyYearbook, I immediately thought it was interesting because it’s much like an idea that I’m creating for an upcoming entrepreneurial competition that I’m entering into (The Elevator Pitch Competition). I think Catharine and David did a great job in following the entrepreneurial process (whether that was their goal or not) because they saw a problem and were able to come up with a solution that didn’t just impact their high school, but high schools all over the country by making them see something has been a tradition for decades under a new light.

To read more about how MyYearbook took shape and took off, check out this article: Catherine Cook: The brainwave that made me $10m by age 18 | MoneyWeek