Start 'em Young: DC Tech's Next Generation

Over 40 young entrepreneurs (we don't mean boyishly charming yet already a millionaire--we're talking high school age) gathered at EverFi's Georgetown HQ to plot out how they could turn their interests into business ideas. Mark Zuckerberg better watch his back.

Meet the inaugural class of Bisnow Ventures’ GEN Z program. It brings together high school kids interested in business and exposes them to successful DC-area entrepreneurs during a half-day Saturday workshop. The group heard how entrepreneurs like EverFi’s Tom Davidson and Parature’s Duke Chung have turned their own ideas into revenue-generating ventures with backing from top investors. They also learned the art of networking and how to pitch business ideas. 

Tom played a lot of sports in high school, worked on the student newspaper, and had average grades. While a senior at Bowdoin College in Maine, he won a seat on the Maine state legislature. In the early days of EverFi in ’08, Tom and a small team of sales people drove around the country in an RV, meeting with potential customers, and sleeping on hotel lobby couches to conserve money. Growing the edtech company to 150 employees and wooing investors like Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Twitter founder Evan Williams also made Tom a source of great advice: always write handwritten notes; don’t listen to the 80% of friends and family who will think your business idea is dumb; and don’t be afraid to ask for help. 

When Duke was a Cornell student in '01, Internet access was something you plugged in and dialed and at least two people were needed to move a computer monitor across the room. Duke and his college friends started a chat product that was intended for college students to communicate but was picked up by small businesses that used it for their customer service communications. Parature, recently acquired by Microsoft, has since evolved to a web-based CRM system with over 70 million end users. But it hasn’t always been easy. Duke says his worst day on the job was once laying off 20% of the Parature workforce. Duke’s advice: Focus on building a great business, then think about raising capital. 

Riide founder Amber Wason talked about her e-bike startup to this group of young female entrepreneurs. Last year, China sold twice as many e-bikes as cars. Yet they weren’t selling in the US. Why? There were being marketed to seniors citizens--and the bikes were heavy and clunky. Amber saw congestion in cities and a hole in the market. She knew if she could make a light, cool bike, it would be a hit with young, urban folks who don’t want a car. Her DC company set a $50k goal on Kickstarter and got there in one day. Her lesson: Don’t do it alone. Have someone help and support you when you start a business. 

GEN Z has more events on the calendar. Check out the site for details.