Nick D’Aloisio – Summly
Nick D’Aloisio was just a 12-year-old boy when he started to be interested in computers. Neither of his parents had jobs with technology however, he still found a interest in computers. Nick decided that he wanted to fool around in making apps at the age of 13 and when he was just 15 years old he had sold his app, named Summly, to yahoo for 30 million dollars.
When asked about what he was like pre-Summly, and what first got him excited about technology? He responded saying, “I actually got more into movie making and 3D rendering when I was like eleven or twelve. There was this professional software called Autodesk Maya, and I got into doing that. I mean, it wasn’t that good, but I was teaching myself. So I guess the two things I really enjoyed doing when I was younger were creative output and als
o teaching myself things. I have taught myself math before; I’ve taught myself programming; I used to do a lot of stuff on the side of school; and so I think those skills helped get me into programming in this app world.”
Summly is an news article app that allows people to get the news on their phones in a more innovative way that is easy to use. It has features that allow people to search for key words and is in the format of a swipe not a scroll design so that users don’t have to be as annoyed.
I know for a fact that it takes a lot of self-discipline to teach yourself things! His dedication certainly shows and wow, did it pay off! Good for him for sticking to it and taking the time to teach himself new skills at such a young age.
It’s insane that he’s a young millionaire from his own work. Sometimes young millionaires have help or parental guidance, but his success from his own merit.
Wow I think everyone wishes they could be like that kid in the way he is able to motivate himself to learn new skills and also being successful in applying his abilities to make something useful. Simply amazing.