
How a Teenage Entrepreneur Built a Startup on Bitcoin Riches - haymills
https://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/teenage-entrepreneur-built-startup-bitcoin-riches-160200205.html
======
quotient
This doesn't detail "how" a teenage entrepreneur built a startup on BTC
riches. It's not a very exciting story, either.

Here's what happened: in early 2012, he put all his money into Bitcoin. Then
he cashed out when they peaked (probably around December 2013). Then he used
the money to start yet another e-learning business/service.

I don't see what the point of this article is. He used money that was given to
him to bet on speculate on a wildly fluctuating asset, and came out lucky. Now
he's trying to invest his money sensibly. So what?

To me, the only interesting part of this article is that he pays most of his
employees in Bitcoin. The rest is just fluff.

~~~
swalsh
Its an article on yahoo.com, are you actually expecting hard hitting
reporting?

~~~
kerkeslager
It's a link on Hacker News, so I would expect (or rather, hope) to not see
links to uninteresting stories.

------
tomp
Who would have thought... I've read about this boy a few days ago on Reddit
(subforum _Entrepreneur_ ). Someone suggested that he should get his story in
the media, because it's rather interesting (especially his age, and Bitcoin is
still hot nowadays). A month later, here he is!

[http://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/comments/25u81a/im_15_a...](http://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/comments/25u81a/im_15_and_i_have_20_people_working_for_me_all/chkzw5c)

~~~
drzaiusapelord
I just clicked on that and read the first root comment. The kid more or less
admits to using fake reviews on his site. He offers to "fix" a review, which
not only sounds incredibly fake, but in which the person claims to be in NY
but then claims being in LA.

Err, not sure if this is off to a great start. The skills to speculate bitcoin
may not be the skills that get you ahead running an e-learning company. The
kid comes off as incredibly dishonest.

------
throwaway283719
I'm not clear what the lesson is here, unless it's "you should have bought
Bitcoin in 2012".

------
cowbell
Who gives $1000 to a 14 year old grandchild for Easter? #JustRichPeopleThings

~~~
Iftheshoefits
Not necessarily. It was given to him by his grandmother. Perhaps she's
divesting herself of some of her retirement funds for whatever reason (e.g.
maybe is actually not all that well off but she wants her grandkids to "have
something" but is anticipating losing all she owns in end-of-life care).

That said, there is little to this story that seems impressive to me.
Regardless of whether his family is rich or not, being given $1000 for easter
is a big deal when one is 14, and therefore most of the rest of this kid's
story is better attributed to good luck than talent. What's impressive is that
he didn't spend all the bitcoin-windfall on video games, apps, and trying to
impress his friends.

------
bluthru
Maybe it's not a popular thing to say around here, but that $1000 in BTC could
just as easily be worth $500 right now.

------
free2rhyme214
This title "How a Teenager Entrepreneur Built a Startup on Bitcoin Riches" is
misleading.

The kid took his grandma's money and bought and sold bitcoin at the right
time.

His startup consists of himself and two other dudes.

This isn't Shawn Parker Napster impressive to me.

Is he smarter than your average 15 year old or myself when I was 15? Yeah but
not that smart.

------
7Figures2Commas
> When 15-year-old Erik Finman turned a $1,000 Easter gift from his grandma
> into $100,000 after cashing in on his Bitcoin investment, he wasn’t all like
> Cristal, Maybach, diamonds on your timepiece.

It would be kind of difficult to buy a Maybach with $100,000 given that even a
used one costs more than that.

Putting the article's heavy dose of fluff aside, it would be interesting to
know if Finman paid capital gains on the $100,000. Additionally, if he truly
has "employees" that he's paying in Bitcoin, it would be interesting to know
if he's properly doing withholding, since you have to pay that in USD.

------
joshdance
fluff. How to build a business on finding a gold nugget. How to build a
startup after you bought Google IPO. etc etc

