In 2016, teenager Stefan Stokic from Jackson, Mississippi cofounded Slik, “an automatic email prospecting app”.
Stokic started learning coding when he was 10 years old. When he was 15, Stokic listened to Chris Sacca on Periscope. Sacca and his partner discussed their need for a job page for Lowercase. Stokic decided to create a page. Then he cold messaged Chris Sacca on Twitter with a link to the page. A few minutes later, Stokic received a reply from Chris Sacca and his partner.
Later, Lowercase hired Stokic as an intern. His internship helped him network with other Venture Capitalists (VC). At Lowercase, Stokic connected with Saroush Ghodsi who lived in Canada.
Together Stokic and Ghodsi developed Slik to help find email addresses. When the two realized they needed more support to launch the product, they turned to the phone. They cold-called the top VCs and entrepreneurs.
Stokic’s partner Ghodsi managed to find the personal cell phone number for Sam Altman. The call ended with Altman offering to fly both Stokic and Ghodsi to San Francisco to discuss it further. After the initial San Francisco meeting, the two moved to the city to attend Y Combinator’s summer classes.
Soon, Stokic and Ghodsi launched Slik. The platform was ranked 3rd for Product Hunt on October 19, 2016. In one month, Slik supported over 1,500 users with a revenue of $4,000.
Stokic took the initiative to create a Jobs page and tweeted Sacca. This landed him an internship, helped him gain experience, and created a network for him. He and his partner continued to take risks which paid off.
In an article from Business Insider, Stokic states,
“If you don’t reach out, you’re never going to have the opportunity. You don’t have much to lose, especially when you’re just starting out. Just go out and try to get something done.”
Read more at:
2 teens cold-call Sam Altman, become youngest accepted to Y Combinator (cnbc.com)
I love his drive to reach out and make his own opportunities. I think it’s easy to assume that entrepreneurs stumble upon or are given their opportunities but often it is proactive steps that make things possible. Building relationships takes a beginning and without making a move you will not see results. I’d love to know if this was his first venture or if this was one of many projects.