Astonishing Companies Built by Teens
By T. Ciarfalio
In an earlier posting we recommended hiring your teen to help you with your business. Today, we want to tell you about entrepreneurs who started their businesses when they were just teens. These young go-getters were featured in a recent American Express Open Forum article entitled, 10 Awesome Companies Built by Teens.
17 year old, Fred De Luca, borrowed just 1,000 dollars to start the now-famous Subway sandwich restaurant. He started the restaurant as a way to earn money for college. He eventually attended the University of Bridgeport, when he began his sandwich stand. Peter Buck, Fred’s co-founder, have also founded Franchise Brands, a resource to help franchisors and entrepreneurs grow their companies.
The popular social networking site, Facebook, was created by Mark Zuckerberg while he was at Harvard. He initiated the site from his dorm room, and since that very day, has become the youngest self-made businessman who is worth more than a billion dollars. Mark dropped out of college and became the CEO of the fastest-growing site on the Internet. Facebook has since recorded over 400 million users and is now one of the most successful websites ever built.
At only 9 years old, Jason O’Neil created one of the most successful businesses started by someone under the age of 10. O’Neil started Pencil Bugs, colorful pencil toppers in the shape of bugs. Away from his business, Jason has been featured on many major network shows, not only for his young entrepreneurship, but also for his devoted efforts toward foster children and various charities. He has since shut down the business. Jason states, “We worked with many manufacturers over the past few years but I am sorry to say that none of them were able to produce Pencil Bugs at the quality and price necessary to continue that part of my business. I have kept a small supply of them for safe keeping and will continue to work on other ideas.”
Romero Bryan started designing clothes at the age of 12. In 2003 he was listed number 5 on the Bank of Scotland Rich List 2020, with the prediction that he would be worth 30 million dollars by then. Romero graduated from the London College of Fashion in late 2005. His own clothing line has taken off like a rocket. He’s dressed Victoria Beckham, Cameron Diaz, Beyonce, and even Alicia Keys.
Born in Seattle, Washington, Kristopher Tate started working with HTML at age 4, programming in Think-C at age 5 and started Zooomr at age 17. Since then the company has grown into one of the most popular photo sharing services on the Internet. In August, 2007, Kristopher moved Zooomr’s HQ to Harajuku, Japan and since then has brought a team of dedicated people to work on projects. Tate is also involved in creating Japan’s first society-based community website.
Every now and then there are motivated young teenagers who create profitable companies quite frequently even before they are old enough to vote, buy alcohol, or even drive. These enlightening stories can give an abundance of hope and confidence to any young teenagers to pursue their passions.
2 Comments
Hi! I could have sworn I’ve been to this website prior to but soon after searching via many of the submit I recognized it is new to me. Anyways, I’m surely content I discovered it and I’ll be book-marking and checking again regularly!
Greetings! Extremely beneficial assistance on this informative article! It really is the small modifications that make the largest adjustments. Many thanks a good deal for sharing!