| On 11.03.09, In Uncategorized, by venus |
The power of Internet and its global reach gives wings to many entrepreneurs and their firms an opportunity to reach their market . More and more new users (almost 150,000 new users’ added everyday) are joining the league of Internet users. With most of the overall job creation usually stemming from small enterprises, the youth entrepreneurship has been a useful alternative for income generation. However, while it is recognized that the youth years are essential for generating ideas young people themselves only make up a potential share of all entrepreneurs.
As I received an e- mail from my friend about these young market leaders I thought of sharing it with my readers hoping to inculcate a sense of motivation which I personally felt as I scrolled down through the page. Here is a list of top 10 youngest internet millionaires who have carved a niche with their dedication and zeal to stand out from the crowd.
1.) Mark Elliot Zuckerberg 
Age: 23 years old
Project: Facebook
Wealth: $700 million
On the top is the American computer programmer and entrepreneur Mark Elliot Zuckerberg , Facebook Founder .As a Harvard student, he created the online social website Facebook with fellow computer science major students and his roommates Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes.
2.) Andrew Christopher Gower
Age: 28 years old
Project: Runescape
Wealth: $650 million
Andrew Christopher Gower is a British games developer and co-founder of Jagex Ltd, the company he founded with Paul Gower and Constant Tedder. He is noted for writing MMORPG RuneScape, with the assistance of his brother, Paul Gower and also a lead developer. Jagex is a producer of online computer games based in Cambridge, UK. The company produces games exclusively written using the Java language, its name standing for “JAva Gaming EXperts”
3.) Chad Hurley co-founder and Chief Executive Officer YouTube
Age: 30 years old
Project: YouTube
Wealth: $300 million
Chad Meredith Hurley is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of the popular San Bruno, California-based video sharing website YouTube. In June 2006, he was voted 28th on Business 2.0’s “50 People Who Matter Now” list. In October 2006 he sold YouTube for $1.65 billion to Google. Hurley is a user interface expert and was primarily responsible for the tagging and video sharing aspects of YouTube
4.) Mozilla firefox project by Dave Hyatt and Blake Ross.
Age: 22 years old
Project: Mozilla
Wealth: $120 million
Blake Aaron Ross an American software developer worked on the Mozilla web browser; with Dave Hyatt, as well as the Spread Firefox project with Asa Dotzler while working as a contractor at the Mozilla Foundation. In 2005, he was nominated for Wired magazine’s top Rave Award, Renegade of the Year, opposite Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Jon Stewart. He was also a part of Rolling Stone magazine’s 2005 hot list.
5.) Fast Hosts founder Andrew Michael
Age: 29 years old
Project: Fast Hosts
Wealth: $110 million
6.) DeviantArt Co-founder Angelo Sotira
Age: 26 years old
Project: DeviantART
Wealth: $75 million
DeviantArt (official typeset as deviantART; commonly abbreviated as dA) is an American online community with worldwide appeal showcasing various forms of user-made artwork. It was first launched on August 7, 2000. As of May 2009 the site consists of over 10 million members, over 81 million submissions, and receives around 105,000 submissions per day. The domain deviantart.com attracted at least 36 million visitors annually by 2008 according to a Compete.com study.
7.) PopCap Games Co-founder John Vechey
Age: 28 years old
Project: PopCap Games
Wealth: $60 million
PopCap Games is a leading American casual game developer and publisher, based in Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 2000 by John Vechey, Brian Fiete and Jason Kapalka. PopCap’s flagship title Bejeweled has sold more than 25 million units across all major platforms. PopCap games are available for Web, PC and Mac, Xbox, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, cell-phones, PDAs, iPod Classic, iPhone/Touch and other mobile devices.
8.) ImageShack Co.founder Alexander Levin
Age: 23 years old
Project: ImageShack
Wealth: $56 million
ImageShack is an image hosting website on the Internet. ImageShack has a subscription service, but the majority of their revenue is produced from advertising related to their free image hosting. The imageshack.us Alexa ranking as of September 25, 2007 is one of the top 40’s. According to Nielsen//NetRatings, ImageShack was the fourth fastest growing web brand in July, 2006.
9.)Threadless Co-founders Jake Nickell
Age: 28 years old
Project: Threadless
Wealth: $50 million
Threadless is a community-centered online apparel store run by skinnyCorp of Chicago, Illinois, since 2000. Co-founders Jake Nickell and Jacob DeHart started the company with $1,000 in seed money after entering an Internet t-shirt design contest.Members of the Threadless community submit t-shirt designs online; the designs are then put to a public vote. A small percentage of submitted designs are selected for printing and sold through an online store. Creators of the winning designs receive a prize of cash and store credit.
10) Greg Tseng and Johann Schleier-Smith Tagged Inc. co-founded
Age: 28 years old
Project: Tagged
Wealth: $45 million
Tagged Inc. was co-founded by Harvard graduates and entrepreneurs Greg Tseng and Johann Schleier-Smith. Tagged.com was launched in October 2004 by Tagged Inc. and is privately owned.Tagged.com is a social networking site founded in 2004. Tagged is the subject of numerous customer complaints for sending deceptive bulk mail and is regarded as a phishing and spamming site and an “E-mail scam” by consumer anti-fraud advocates. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States.
Here is a list of 50 young entrepreneurs under 30 years of age who have proven that it is possible for young people to be successful in online business where 17 years old Ashley Qualls with $4 million wealth generated from her site What Ever Life ranks 29th and 24 years old Pete Cashmore a media expert, technology consultant, and founder of Mashable ranks 31st with $3.8 million capital assets.
Also Business Week is set on its fifth annual search for America’s most promising young entrepreneurs from a batch of 25 impressive businesses where readers can vote for the business they feel is secure and holds a promise. The final result would be out on Nov 9.
Apart from all these young minds striving for successful private enterprises and business I came across a very interesting list of 20 young internet entrepreneurs of 2008 by retire21.com all under the age of 21. While Joel designed websites since 13 years of age and owned a company when he was 15, Donny Ouyang, a 16 year old CEO reveals how he is earning over $6,500 a month! Also ranking 20th is India’s Thilak Raj Rao a 18 year old collage drop out earning $1000’s every month from his tech blog www.tech-buzz.net.
The success of the entrepreneurs behind Digg, YouTube, and Facebook is undoubtedly inspiring a growing group of young, energetic, and self-reliant optimists. The Internet seems to have consolidated its position as an integral part of business. Internet has proved to be a good place of investment for many entrepreneurs, young and old. We have seen how some of the young entrepreneurs have earned huge success in their projects and have become millionaires at an early age.
As BusinessWeek says, “Not only are these entrepreneurs navigating the toughest they’re also vastly outnumbered by older, more experienced competitors, who usually have more contacts and capital. That’s even more reason to continue to give young entrepreneurs the encouragement, respect, and awe that they’ve received since becoming cultural icons during the dot-com boom.”
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