INFOGRAPHIC: 7 BRAINIAC TEENS THAT MADE IT BIG BEFORE 21

7 Brainiac Teens That Made it Big Before 21
By KeriLynn Engel, Who Is Hosting This, 12 September 2014.

It’s the start-up stereotype of the new millennium: a young teenage entrepreneur whose very first start-up sells for millions, allowing that teenager to retire before they can legally vote.

Those young success stories get all the media attention, but the truth is that most successful entrepreneurs are older than you’d think: Successful entrepreneurs are 40 years old on average. There are actually twice as many successful entrepreneurs over 50 as there are under 25.

Older entrepreneurs often have the benefit of decades of industry experience. They also have years of education, more established networks, highly developed skills, and the experience managing teams.

In fact, the benefits of age and experience seem to give all the advantages when it comes to entrepreneurship.

Which makes you wonder just exactly how these teenagers beat the odds to become highly successful entrepreneurs at such a young age. What factors did they all have in common to contribute to their successes?

You might think a high IQ or top-rated education would be a prerequisite for start-up success. And you’d be right for some of them: Brian Wong, founder of Kiip.me, skipped four grades in school and graduated from the University of British Columbia when he was just 18.

But that trend doesn’t hold true for every teenage success story. In fact, Chris Phillips, founder of Dot5Hosting, JustHost, and JustCloud, barely passes his business studies class in school - yet that didn’t stop him from selling his company for millions before he turned 18.

Even the stereotype of millennials being successful with websites and apps doesn’t hold true for all of them: Though many of these successful teens went the stereotypical way of starting apps with names like Kiip.me, Summly (now know as Yahoo News Digest after it was sold to Yahoo for US$30 million), other teens started more traditional businesses like a computer repair service, or even selling office chairs.

So is it just luck, or a fluke? Or did these kids have something different that set them apart and allowed them to succeed?

No matter what the cause, these teens all created successful businesses that cashed in millions before they were even legally adults. Check out their stories below, and read their own words on how they made it in the sink-or-swim world of start-ups.

Infographic courtesy of Who Is Hosting This

Top image: Nick D’Aloisio. Credit: FATbit.com.

[Source: Who Is Hosting This. Edited. Top image added.]