Are you a budding young entrepreneur? Do you have what it takes to become a successful business leader? Below are six young business founders and how they began.
Some young entrepreneurs got lucky when they first started out. Similarly, a few lucky ones are akin to Mark Zuckerberg who was already a millionaire before the age of 30.
Others, like Jack Dorsey, had a few tries before they made it big.
But we aren’t here to talk about them. We’re here to highlight successful young founders and how they began. This list is about the everyday kids in America who had an idea and acted upon it.
Cory Nieves (15)
Cory Nieves was ambitious as a child. He sold hot chocolate in his neighborhood. A lot of hot chocolate. He raised enough money to help buy his mother a car.
Motivation? He was tired of taking the bus.
Nieves was selling his hot chocolate at $1 a cup. He realized he could get more by making treats as well. He spent months baking with his mom and created a chocolate chip cookie business called Mr. Cory’s Cookies.
In 2015, he was invited onto The Ellen DeGeneres Show where he was given a $100,000 cash infusion. That was used to create an eCommerce site and help ship cookies across the country.
Hart Main (13)
When Hart Main was just 13 years old he teased his sister. He razzed her about the scented candles she was selling for a school fundraiser.
Later on, Main wanted to buy an expensive bike and realized that his sister was right. With the help of his parents, he founded ManCans. They sold in every state and use old soup cans for the candles.
ManCans makes six figures annually.
Hannah Grace (10)
At just 10-years-old, Hannah Grace was challenged by her father. He encouraged her to make the very same products from the beauty stores she frequently visited.
Her idea was BeYOUtiful, a bath bomb company.
When she was an infant, doctors diagnosed Hannah with Type 1 diabetes. As a result of her success, she donates 20% of every purchase to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund.
Moziah Bridges (9)
Little Moziah Bridges had an idea when he was just 9-years-old. In his grandmother’s kitchen, he started a fashion accessory business called Mo’s Bows.
His reason was that he wanted sharp-looking accessories to wear. Today, the entire world does business with his company. This motivated him to study fashion design in college. Besides bow ties, there are also apparel, pocket squares, and neckties.
Lily Born (8)
Lily Born was observant when she was a child. Her father had Parkinson’s and would often spill his drinks, leaving her grandmother to clean up the messes.
With the help of her father and crowdsourcing, Born founded a company called Imagiroo LLC. They invented the Kangaroo Cup, a three-legged cup that prevents spills.
As a result, the 16-year-old sells thousands of the Kangaroo Cups every year.
Matt Mullenweg (18)
As a teenager, Matt loved to blog. He used a platform known as b2/cafelog to upload his writings and pictures.
When the owner of the website discontinued it, Matt and his friend Mike Little built a blogging platform on top of b2/cafelog and would continue to update it. Later on, in 2003, they would launch WordPress.
Today, WordPress is responsible for powering 39.6% of the internet, garnering over 400 million visits every month.
These young founders frequently look back at how they began and share their insights to help inspire a new generation of youthful entrepreneurs.
