

Q&A: Meet the 15-year-old who just sold his tech startup - JackWebbHeller
http://www.geekwire.com/2011/rewind-meet-15yearold-sold-tech-startup

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s00pcan
My parents always thought I was wasting time on the computer and berated me at
every opportunity about it. They still do, even though I make all of my money
at this point using one and am 24. Back then they criticized me for not being
involved in sports or at least chess club; they didn't give out trophies for
computer programming at my school so I never received one. Sure, I played
games, but I was learning new skills and programming all the time. When I was
injured from skateboarding I made a GBA game in C. The next time I injured
myself I learned PHP and started using it to connect to databases on my
websites. I just wish I could understand programming then like I do now - the
concepts make sense now but I don't have the free time I used to.

~~~
masnick
> Back then they criticized me for not being involved in sports or at least
> chess club; they didn't give out trophies for computer programming at my
> school so I never received one.

This is why programs like the FIRST robotics competition
(<http://usfirst.org/>) are so important: they give engineering/programming
some of the competitiveness and glitz traditionally reserved for high school
sports.

I drove my high school's robot for 3 years at FIRST competitions around the
country -- _way_ more exciting/educational/fun/memorable than playing for my
school's soccer team (my other extracurricular).

~~~
s00pcan
Oh yeah, I did do that. My team got an award for having the least amount of
engineers per students - only one! I was asked to come to the competition for
free (the other students had to pay something over $100) because I was the
only one who had any idea how to program the robot. I wasted most of my time
working on a 3d animation in 3dsMax because I didn't expect to go at first, so
our robot only had basic movement controls.

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citricsquid
I'm always jealous of people who were introduced to computing early. I'm 19
now and have done well, but I didn't get access to the internet until 14 and
never had anyone to show me about things. I feel as if I had been introduced
much earlier there were much greater opportunities, 5 years ago this sort of
thing would have been unheard of but now it's become more and more common;
anyone of any age can start something and be successful. Imagining knowing
what I know now when I was 15...

It's awesome and a great change, now age is as insignificant as it should be.
Well done Daniil!

~~~
jinushaun
Same here. I was born 10 years too early. When I look back at all the stuff I
_produced_ as a kid (I still have them in boxes), I have no doubt I would've
been able to make the next Facebook if only I was introduced to computers
earlier and the internet was more mainstream than it was. Kids have so much
free time...

~~~
danso
You mean, you would've had the programming chops, or you would've had the
desire to make an online network at a time when Myspace existed? I knew plenty
of guys at that time who were very good programmers...but none of them were at
the right place at the right time.

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jreposa
I actively hire people that don't have a CS degree. If you can build cool
things, that's all I care about.

~~~
mattdeboard
If the readership of HN is anything like me, you just got a ton of pageviews
at your "We're hiring" page.

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hzay
A lot of the comments seem to talk about missed opportunities. Maybe I'm the
odd one here. While I love to program, I wouldn't want to exchange my games-
and-books-filled childhood with a programming-filled one. I can spend my
lifetime programming, but I couldn't be playing in the streets when I'm 30,
and I did love playing.

EDIT: That said, I did make a web page when I was 11 (1999), but could never
figure out how to get info from the HTML forms. The kid is awesome.

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8ig8
Couldn't find a link in the story, so here ya' go...

<http://www.phenona.com/>

~~~
shivam14
I enjoyed reading the blog and how clearly he talks about his business and
sells the benefits (not just features). I know MBAs who are not able to so
clearly articulate their pricing and business models
<http://www.phenona.com/blog/phenona-business-model/>

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daimyoyo
This kid started when he was 7. So not only does he already have 8 YEARS
experience, he learned when his mind was most able to absorb the knowledge. He
has an immeasurable head start in life and that, combined with this exit on
his résumé tells me we haven't heard the last from Mr. Kulchenko.

~~~
Wilduck
I read this and immediately started freaking out, until I took the mental
steps to calculate that he had 8 years of experience writing Perl. By the time
I hit 8 years experience hopefully I'll have an exit in the works as well.

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Apocryphon
This is an inspirational story and great stuff, but I can't help but have
creeping "bubble 2.0" chills creeping down my spine. Maybe it's not actual
hysteria on my mind, but the obligatory need to talk about the bubble in every
single discussion thread on HN.

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TheRevoltingX
Awesome, congrats. My first language was Perl too around 13 an now I'm 25. I
work as a professional dev now, but I look at some of my code from back then
and sometimes it's better than my code now!

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chopsueyar
He focused on his idea for 3 full years before selling.

He is the youngest perlmonk I've heard of.

I feel I was born too late, not too early. Funny stuff.

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ohashi
Looks like that kid will be going far :) Congrats to him.

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sayemm
Awesome reading articles like this. A constant reminder that the quickest way
to freedom for young people these days is programming and the internet.

