We recently had a blog post about mark bao’s selling his web viral app, well according to a report on Mashable.

He has just sold his site and service to Kevin Ham. Ham is a dot-com mogul whose portfolio includes around $300 million worth of domain names.

Billed as “the man who owns the Internet,” Ham owns domains such as God.com and Satan.com and routinely pays six-figure prices for URLs he likes.

Bao launched the app not too long ago; its purpose was to solicit compliments from users’ online friends. The user would simply post or tweet a unique URL along with a phrase like, “Enter three words that describe me.” The app would then collect (often anonymous) three-word descriptions and track which words came up most often.

Read the rest of the story

At just 23 years old, Alex Hodara has been named one of Americas Best Young entrepreneurs under 25. He is the founder of Hodara Real estate; a student owned and operated real estate brokerage.

An entrepreneur from an early age, Alex successfully created and ran several successful businesses before establishing HREG including a poker chip importing company and the Eboy Charity Foundation.

When Alex Hodara was a freshman at Boston University four years ago, he took a part-time job at a local agency renting apartments to fellow students. After two years, he had his real estate broker’s license.He made the quick transition from a successful realtor to a real estate broker, founding the Hodara Real Estate Group in 2008. He opened his own rental brokerage in January 2009, with four other students working as agents. Hodara calls his company the first student-run real estate brokerage.

The Boston-based company has since expanded into selling properties to buyers looking for income-generating investments; Hodara says he has so far brokered more than $5 million worth of such deals. He also started a separate business managing properties for landlords. Most customers are students who welcome working with their peers, rather than professional real estate agents. Hodara says the company had revenue of $175,000 in 2009 and expects $400,000 in 2010.

Since the success of his business, he has been featured in the media including “Street Signs” with CNBC, and was also a keynote speaker on social media marketing at the Century 21 Leadership Conference in 2009.

‘If you want to get into real estate, start from the ground level to learn the ropes (i.e. getting your real estate license or managing property). Starting in these positions will eventually lead to finding rare investment deals for yourself or your clients.’ Says Hodara advising other young entrepreneurs.

Written by Christine Maema

The Small Business Start-up Workbook: A Step-by-step Guide to Starting the Business You’ve Dreamed of

Matthew Hagger is the English born founder of Zkatter, his most recent startup. Zkatter is a social street view and provides you with a tool to answer a very simple question: What do you see?

Hagger began development in 2008 and the service now allows anybody to broadcast and archive ‘live moments’ comprising location, media (image, video and text) to ‘friends only’ or ‘the public’ which can then be discovered instantly via search and friends time-lines. Zkatter’s focus is towards capturing information that you physically see live which offers a interesting addition to the real-time space and allows users to create memory time lines.

As it grows you will be able to see live updates of places, for instance a restaurant in central London, you can check the vibe from latest updates from other Zkatter users.

By 21 the young entrepreneur had co founded Global Intermedia Ltd with his close friend Eugene Kouumdjieff which later became known as ‘E-Man’ in 2002. The pair roughed it for months till they generated enough from advertising to really get going and build a million dollar company.

By 22 Matt had created Net Sorcerer; the first real-time desktop news alerts platform in the UK, winning a patent & innovation award from the UK’s DTI. This raised investment of over $500,000. The platform was also even adopted by Sky News & Sports, to deliver breaking content in real-time. He worked in a consultancy role to implement the platform with many large companies including the likes of McDonalds and Disney! He has then moved into working with smaller startups.

2010 has seen a great year for Matt as Co Founder of Bizk.it, a new business tools platform for start ups and small business owners and with the growth of Zkatter, and this year seems like it will be even bigger.

So watch out for Matt in 2011.


The Growing Business Handbook: Inspiration and Advice from Successful Entrepreneurs and Fast Growing UK Companies

India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world and it comes as no surprise that it is home to a business that have been consistently included in the Top 500 Fastest Growing Companies in Asia over the past 3 years.

The founder of this IT business is 28-year-old Divyank Turakhia of Bombay, who began Internet consulting at the ripe old age of 14. Borrowing $600 from his parents, Divyank set up his own company Directi in 1998, tuning into the Internet marketing gold rush, whereby they supplied the IT tools for those wanting to make money by setting up their own online businesses.

By the time Mr. Turakhia was 18, Directi already had a net worth of $1 million, as they were hosting clients for some of the biggest players in the Indian market. Today, Directi is estimated to be worth upwards of $300 million.

It is obvious from his rapid rise from talented adolescent to CEO of one of India’s fastest growing companies that Divyank is special. He became interested in computers at a very young age and gathered an astonishing degree of technical expertise by the time he was 13, allowing him to earn money by completing his classmate’s computer projects and always obtaining A grades for them.

Whilst the other kids in his class were outside enjoying the sun and sporting activities, Divyank would spend every waking hour with his head buried in computer books. His dedication paid dividends and also provided some staggering achievements, the highlight being his creation of the ultimate business simulation game.

The object of the game was to start from scratch, create a successful business and get 100% of the market share, something that would ironically mirror his entrepreneurial career. His expertise in IT was unheard of in someone so young, and he was soon doing freelance consultancy work for the large Indian corporate companies. Now an experienced serial entrepreneur, Directi has expanded to such an extent that the business was relocated to a new and modern $45 million facility in 2008, housing some really amazing amenities including on sight movie and games rooms that his 500 employees can enjoy.

Written by Henry Colburn

Cameron Johnson’s astronomical rise to one of the most sought after Keynote speakers and consultants in commerce today had humble beginnings like so many other self-made businessmen.

His road to entrepreneurial success began at the tender age of 10 when his parents gave him his first computer, “A week or two after I got the computer I showed my mom these invitations I had printed,” Johnson says. “She said ‘wow, you can print the invitations for the holiday party your dad and I are having.’ I said “sure if you pay me!” This printing business was to be the first in a line of 12 Internet companies that Johnson founded before his 21st birthday, spanning from selling Beenie Babies online to selling Internet advertisement space in his senior year at college.

At the age of 15, he was the youngest ever person to be appointed to the board of a Tokyo based company, inspiring him to write his first book “15 year old CEO” which became a huge hit in Japan, galvanizing a whole new generation of Japanese youngsters into the ways of business.

In 2009 he was chosen as one of the “Ten Outstanding Young Americans” and now he is part of a distinguished heritage including the likes of John F Kennedy, Bill Clinton and Henry Ford II. Although Cameron Johnson has achieved such unprecedented personal success, he has never been one to shy away from giving people an insight into the secrets of his career.

In 2007 his book “The 19 Essential Secrets of Entrepreneurialship” became an instant best seller, and he divides his time by travelling the World inspiring people with his live speeches, to raising thousands of pounds for different charities and by acting as a consultant to several Fortune 500 companies in the US.

Read Cameron Johnson’s interview with YHP here!

Written by Henry Colburn

Josh Dziabiak is a 23 year old serial entrepreneur. He is the founder of ShowClix, which is a ticket selling platform.

The difference being tickets are entirely distributed via text message and email, saving on paper and making use of popular technologies that are playing a larger part of our lives these days. The benefits are that you are more than likely to be always carrying your phone with you and you won’t have to worry about forgetting that paper ticket.

This was not Josh’s first venture, in fact by the age of 18 he had already sold his first company, MediaCatch for $1million. This was a website hosting and design firm founded by Josh in 2002 when he was 15 years old.

He then started a online record label which didn’t have the same success as he had previously with MediaCatch but it did lead to the idea of his latest venture ShowClix. He realised just how expensive it really is for small venues to effectively manage ticket sales. This is where the idea for a paperless ticketing service came from.

In 2007 at the age of 20 he started ShowClix. Before this he worked for a short time at small company where he gained invaluable experience which would help him in his next venture. The company has now delivered over a million tickets and has over 1,000 customers.

ShowClix is a B2B (business-2-business) firm and makes its money by charging customers between 7% & 15% of each ticket sold which is less than charged by rivals such as Ticketmaster. The tickets can be bought online at their website but the customers being the events hosts are the ones paying for the service of distributing the tickets essentially.

In 2009 ShowClixs, revenue was $4.5million and is expected to double that in 2010.

Joshua Dziabiak looks like he is onto another winner and industry rivals should certainly be watching out for this young newcomer.

Did you like it? For more posts like this, please subscribe to our RSS feed, Become a fan or follow us on Twitter.

Serial entrepreneur Felecia Hatcher was 19years old when she began her first business coaching high schoolers on what they had to do to gain entry to college.

After this, she started working in the corporate world soon after she realised being an employee was not for her.

At the age of 25, she found a way to make money and be her own boss, she started her own company called Feverish.

What is feverish, well it’s an eco ice cream truck business which is targeted towards adults, Felecia showed her creativity by creating a whole range of new flavours specifically for adults.

These included Georgia SweetTea, Mango Chilli and even Margarita!

She came up with the idea after chasing after an Ice Cream truck and ending up flat on her face. She felt there had to be a cooler way, rather than chasing after a truck playing a jingle.

Her Feverish Ice Cream trucks can be found at all sorts of special events from weddings and birthdays to red carpet events and fashion shows in the Florida area.

The company is gaining popularity and will soon enough expand further. Felicia also gives parts of the proceeds to charity and is heavily involved in communicating with students encouraging them into entrepreneurship or college.

Felicia feels that becoming an entrepreneur came about by knowing what she didn’t want to do, and that was being a 9-5 employee.

Did you like it? For more posts like this, please subscribe to our RSS feed, Become a fan or follow us on Twitter.

Michael Costigan is a serial entrepruneur, who is just as interested in encouraging others to succeed, as he is in his own success.

Micheal has 3 succesful start ups to his name and he is just 17 years old.

A social entrepreneur, Michael also is a public speaker and is dedicated to helping teens with their issues. His website speakingofmichael.com is dedicated to improving communication between parents and teens to better help them make decisions. Here he has made himself a valued brand and his communication skills are his product.

At 13 the young entreprenuer began madFusion LLC, mad standing for Marketing, Advertyising and Design. The service is aimed atprovide graphic design, business strategy and social media consultancy to the young and up coming entreprenuers of this generation.

Mr Costigans work was recognised by the Youth Venture organisation who offered Michael a grant to help with continued development of the business.

During his close partership with Youth Venture, Michael developed an ability as a public speaker. As his interest for entrepenuership grew, so did his view toward the potential growth of global technologies. This led to the foundation of Think Top Down, a company that looks into software development for the iPhone.

Micheal continues to look forward and helping others. His latest endeveour focuses on adolesent psychology. His communication and leadership skills have been a driving force in his success at such a young age. He now has the opportunity to speak around the world and is still continously learning as he imparts his own knowledge to help others.

“In order to understand, you must listen”
Michael Costigan

Did you like it? For more posts like this, please subscribe to our RSS feed, Become a fan or follow us on Twitter.

Article By Rishi Chowdhury

Sumon Sadhu is the 26 year old serial entrepreneur, He is a self styled achievement junkie and innovation obsessive.

Sumon says he is only working on projects that will have a deep and meaningful impact on the world. He also ensures he has the right people around him.

By that I mean having the mental attitude that will be positive, ambitious and motivated to reaching the overall goal of Sumon which is ‘to be a successful serial entrepreneur and build (at least one, preferably more) lasting, enduring businesses worth over $1Billion.’

In October 2005 the Imperial Entrepreneurs Society was founded by Sumon.

The society is for Technology student entrepreneurs. It is the largest of its kind in Europe. It was set up to transform entrepreneurial aspirations for the next generation of disruptive technology entrepreneurs.

It was set up during his year at Imperial College where he did an Msc in infectious disease. This was after spending 5 years at Oxford University, studying Biochemistry.

During his time at Oxford he was also a part of the Entrepreneurs society. Being surrounded by other like minded individuals inspired him and this was one of the reasons he set up the society at Imperial College.

Sumon is the co-founder of Snaptalent which was around between 2007 and 2009. This company was involved in the online recruitment industry.

Even after realising that the growth of the company into this market was not as high as expected and that opportunities were limited, Sumon did not give up his pursuit of the entrepreneurial lifestyle and instead he moved onto other opportunities.

Currently Sumon is a director at the hugely popular YouNoodle, A site is a large community of start up companies and entrepreneurs. He is also still reaching for his goal of at least one billion dollar company and good luck to him! He has the desire and the network to achieve this.

At the age of 22, Kieran has created three successful online companies.

He is the founder of the website holylemon.com, playfire and PSU which is abbreviated for Play station Universe. Dropping out of university became an advantage to him, as it enables him more time to the things he truly cares about.

Boys love games – all sorts of games that range from Xbox, PS2, Nintendo and to some extent Wii.
Mr O’Neil is driven by the desire to please a multitude of Game lovers like himself, but most of all driven by thought to think big – do big.

At the age of 19, He sold the website Holylemon at the price of $1.25milllions. The negotiations of this offer and it sales were finalised. Achieving this step made it an easier task to create another online media industry regarding many male’s first love – Games. PSU came into existence in November 2003 which is currently read by 1.5million gamers a month.

Many people say one love is not enough, this is proven by Mr O’Neil as he creates Play Fire, in 2007. Play fire is once again made for Game lovers mostly Video Game loves. Play fire is stated as being the Global community for gamers.

It‘s hard running an online business whilst studying, Mr O’Neil learnt how to juggle his time –the negotiations’ of Holylemon took place during his exam period. He studied at University of bath in the school of management between the years of 2005 – 2007, however decided to give Playfire – his third love, his full attention.

His slogan as a young entrepreneur is that people should keep a low budget but to not stop for anything. In other terms, drive your passion to the fullest.