Turning youthful ideas into a profitable company
By Beatrice de Mahieu (Co-Founder & General Manager) | Virtuology Academy
An amazing number of teenagers these days are finding themselves at the head of awesomely successful companies. This can be seen in the increasing number of teen business stories in the web and print media, from the Huffington Post, investopedia.com and entrepreneur.com to the Guardian, Business Insider and Forbes, which regularly feature articles devoted to young businesspeople that have turned innovative ideas into sustainable enterprises. Most of these kids are still in school, although a few became successful business moguls after dropping out of high school.
What’s their secret? There isn’t really a general one, but the majority of these teen entrepreneurs have a few things in common:
- A certain business acumen, sometimes even at an early age. From finding clever ways to earn pocket money from the parents to designing an app that draws the attention of major IT constructors, these teens seem to have been born with a business head on their shoulders. That doesn’t mean they got to skip any of the hard work and focus that goes into starting a business, but early interest has stood them in good stead in creating theirs.
- A novel and compelling idea, often one that sprang from an apparent need or a way to improve a product or service. However, many times these teen startups develop simply from a profound passion for a hobby or activity the founders enjoy.
- A keen sense of the uses and advantages of social media and new technologies and how to make them work in business — theirs or those of their clients.
- A boldly creative and youthful daring that encouraged them to seek ways to transform their ideas into enterprise.
- A solid business plan and the willingness to seek and accept help in developing it.
Naturally, such promising next-generation business leaders are attracting more and more attention in the business world. There are now many interesting sources of advice and information on starting a company that also cater to teens and young adults. There are also more and more specific training opportunities geared to helping youthful entrepreneurs get off on the right track. If you are 21 or younger and are looking for inspiration and solid study materials as you do the homework necessary to building an enterprise, here is a shortlist of web sites and pages you won’t want to miss:
- Where Young Entrepreneurs Meet and Start Up
- Business Tips for Young Entrepreneurs
- Teen Entrepreneurs, Teen Investors, and Teen Inventors
- Teen Network
- 19 young entrepreneurs to watch in 2016
- 10 Success Tips for the Young Entrepreneur
Because at Virtuology Academy we believe that teenagers will be the successful entrepreneurs of tomorrow, we decided to launch a specific Startup Sprint for them, in Brussels. “My Startup Bootcamp” is a summer training aiming teens between 15 and 18 years old to structure their (future) entrepreneurship mindset. The idea is to coach teenagers in tools and methodologies that will help them to be in line with their entrepreneurship idea, to help them structure this idea, validate the business model, and help them in telling the pitching story. The “Learn by Doing” approach we have at the Virtuology Academy will allow teens to learn theory and together with the coaches practice and build what they learned. At the end of the week they will pitch their ideas in front of a jury panel. More info here (FR / NL).
