Olympic Champion Struck Gold Starting a Business at Thirteen

When Dale Begg-Smith (who grew up in Canada but raced the moguls for Australia) won the gold medal, they kept referring to him as a millionaire. I heard he started an online company at 13 or 14 and was purportedly worth 40 million dollars today– at 21!. I wanted to know what kind of business he started up.

Smith is not interested in talking about the home-based business he created. Maybe because it is a pop-up advertising tracking service. The official web site is shut down. He apparently sold the company to concentrate on skiing and it appears that was a good idea for him. According to Bloomberg news, the Australian press dubbed him “Spam man.” Not exactly a nickname you would covet!

Still, I’d like to hear the whole story. It would have been about 1997 when he came up with the company. And at thirteen, I can confidently presume he started it in his home with a computer. If it really was his idea and creation at 13 years of age, that’s pretty remarkable!

This should give us all hope. Do you have a great idea? Are you trying to think one up? Here are some guidelines to a finding the perfect idea for a great startup. Norm Brodsky, a guest on StartupNation Radio, created several successful businesses himself and thinks you might be better off starting up with someone else’s idea!

Here’s my joke: It may be all downhill for Dale Begg-Smith now, but once you startup, you can be a mogul too! Okay, I’ll keep my day job.

Total
0
Shares
Leave a Reply
Related Posts
close up picture of the sapling of the plant is growing
Read More

27 Emerging Industries and Promising Startup Opportunities

In the dynamic landscape of startups, founders and CEOs are at the forefront of identifying and capitalizing on emerging industries and trends. From leveraging personal branding to reducing food waste with innovative technology, we've gathered...
Read More

A 10-step Guide to Turning Your Trade into $100K a Year

This is an excerpt from "Six Figure Tradesman: 10 Steps to Making $100,000 in Your First Year as a Professional Tradesman" by Elysia and Andrew Gloudeman. The book describes life as a self-employed tradesman (or...