

Ask HN: Is there any legal way for a young developer to make money? - superuser2

I write small, useful web applications, and I'm beginning to dabble in Android development as well. The catch: I'm in high school.<p>I want to use my skills to start generating some revenue - at least enough to cover the cost of a VPS to host these projects - but there is not a single advertising service, credit card processor, or "app store" that will knowingly do business with a minor.<p>My parents could theoretically open accounts for me, but then do they need to be the ones clicking buttons? Do I have to stand over their shoulders and tell them what to click, or can they hand over the password? Would this violate "non-transferable" clauses?<p>I understand that I should be focusing on improving my skills, living my life, etc. I am. I'm not trying to get $10m from a VC and build an empire like Facebook. I just want to cover costs and make a little money from things I've made for myself which I believe other people will find useful.<p>Any ideas are welcome. This seems like the kind of place where I'll find someone who is/was in the same boat.
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dirkdeman
Somewhere in the late '90's, a 13 year old dutch boy made a website for a
school assignment. The website was nothing more than a chart comparing rates
of cellphone operators. His parents thought it would be a good learning
experience, so they signed the contracts for hosting et al for him.

A couple of years down the road Ben Woldring
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Woldring>) is one of the youngest self-made
millionaires in the country.

So, get your parents to sign up for hosting, adsense, appstore, etc. and code
away. By the time you're old enough to legally sign your own contracts you'll
know so much of doing business (whether your business thrived or failed) your
experience will prove to be a big asset.

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brackin
"I understand that I should be focusing on improving my skills, living my
life, etc. I am." Why should you?

I'm 17 and also in High School and have found starting tech companies/working
on projects great at this age. I think you're coming at this thinking that you
won't be respected and you'll have problems launching a startup or working on
projects at this age.

I'd say in many ways it's much better to do so now. You have the opportunity
to learn, the best way to 'Improve your Skills' and learn is to launch
startups/test things out. It's both a unique learning opportunity and chance
to do anything someone a few years older can do.

I've never been treated any differently to anyone else. I've been to numerous
events, meetups and meetings over the last few years and have found it
refreshing to be treated like anyone else there. It's actually taught me a lot
as well. People don't care that you're younger, even when I have to speak to
someone personally in business. The point being that you're in the position
that you can do anything you want, whether it be something for fun, a niche
product or something with a big vision.

Don't let policies stop you, you'd be surprised at the amount you can do under
18.

This is me, if you want to talk more: <http://twitter.com/andrewbrackin>

Some things you should look into:

<http://mlgen.com> which is amazing as it's full of both hugely successfully
young entrepreneurs and some doing amazing things in small niches. I've also
met loads of like minded individuals who share their experience and help me
connect with people I may want to meet.

<http://teensintech.com> is another cool site with a pretty great team of
folks.

~~~
ig1
Do you find it a problem getting into events ? - I was speaking to someone a
while back who was complaining that he couldn't get into a lot of startup
events as they had open bars/free drinks so had to operate a 18+ policy.

~~~
brackin
Sorry back. I find it a problem sometimes, some of my friends got into one
through the back/sneaked in. Never really the events just the after parties to
be honest.

It's not very often that I have a problem as if it's quite a big after party
(bouncers/staff from establishment run the door) they rarely expect a 17 year
old to be going to a startup event after party.

Obviously none of this is a deterrent to starting anything.

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h4xnoodle
I was 12 when I was a freelance web developer, and thankfully I didn't read
any fine print when signing up for hosting/domains! :) This was 2003 (yeah,
I'm still young). The biggest challenge for me was being female.

There are other means to get attention without going to fancy drinking events.
There are lots of meetups and conferences where anyone can go. Go to those and
meet people!

As for submitting your apps, not sure what you can do there except get older
:) I had to wait to get older in order to become more credible - and also wait
for females to not be perceived as idiots in the field.

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ig1
As long as you have your parents permission that's fine you can fill in all
the forms (with their details) and press the buttons, etc. on their behalf.
That's not a problem, you're just a conduit/proxy for your parents as far as
the legal stuff is concerned.

Google Adsense even specifically suggest this approach:

[http://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en...](http://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=14230)

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tobylane
Look into a home server, you can just buy a second hand laptop and leave it
always on next to the router. You can get student debit cards from a young
age, it varies a lot but can be as low as 14 apparently, which should work
with Paypal. If you can get your running costs down, just keep learning.

~~~
superuser2
I already have a VPS. I've never heard of this comapny shutting down a minor,
but I have heard that about credit card processors.

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GoldenPie
I'm wondering the same thing, I'm heading towards my GCSEs and would like to
go to events, and earn revenue from what I create.

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parasitius
Not suggesting you do the same, but in the 90's I was running adult sites
making a bundle starting at age 15. All I needed was a checking account and PO
Box, -- I'm pretty sure anyone making less than a million are so a year online
is never going to stir up questions of any sort -- no one will ever know.

