Entrepreneurial development: At this point, Jack is in his early twenties and has used his skills in creating computer software to create a number of successful online programs. The first of these which was profitable for him came at the age of 14: he called it Twigoogle, a search engine specifically targeting fans of the well-known Twilight series which made money through advertising. More notably however, was his development of a program know as Benelab a few years later at the age of seventeen. Benelab focused on the problem of the inaccessibility or lack of ease of philanthropy in modern day life. This software sought to solve this problem. Benelab is a search engine which generates donations from online traffic. Anyone who uses the search engine is therefore being philanthropic because all of the revenue generated from people using it goes directly to charity.
Among Kim’s most notable characteristics is his ambition: he started off his Benelab project with a budget of only $1,500 dollars and a goal of raising $100,000. He was also unique in his implementation of his adult policy- stating that only kids could work on the program along with him. He started off with a number of failed search engines, and eventually he refined his craft and was successful. I respect greatly the fact that someone so young can be focused on philanthropy as well. It was a successful idea because many people would like to be philanthropic, but often wont go out of their way. With this solution, people can conveniently be so without any money coming out of their pockets, they lose only the convenience of using a different search engine. Jack has really shown the importance of finding a niche in which you work best and enjoy working, and one in which there exists room for continued innovation- Jack has since founded a number of similar programs whether for profit or charity. He is also insightful in his revelations that,all he is doing is putting a bunch of small parts [or ideas] together to make one big product nothing is from scratch He goes on to say that this is no different from any other product in the world, even a search engine is the result of a number of small parts coming together to create a whole.
Here is a link to the video where Jack gives a Ted Talk on his discovery of what he calls the incredible world of entrepreneurship – https://youtu.be/r1L91sVbN64
What a story! I find that incredible that not only he made several successful programs, but that he made his first program when he was 14! The fact that he was able to start out with only $1,500 and a goal of $100,000 in fundraising. Anyone with that much drive is bound to succeed.
Wow! It is incredible that he did not want any adult help along the way. It is so cool that at such a young age he had other people on his mind and was worried with how he could help them. Truly a story of persistence and dedication to see this thing through!
All I can say is good for Jack! It’s impressive that he has been able to create profitable businesses at such a young age. I appreciate his heart for helping raise money for charity. I want to innovate in the same space. His product reminds me of SurveyMonkey, where just by taking surveys people can raise money for charities. It’s simple things like these products that can do so much for charities so little at a time.
Personally, the most notable aspect of Jack’s ventures, beyond even philanthropy, was in his hiring tactic. Jack is one of several entrepreneurs I have read about recently who uses not only his product, but his employment for the product to great effect. Benelab was not only a philanthropic search engine, it was an incubator and extraordinary opportunity for young entrepreneurs. By hiring only kids, Jack was able to spread his entrepreneurial spirit to others in his age group.