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15-Year-Old Sells Startup To ActiveState

Posted by Soulskill on from the flipping-perlburgers dept.

jcasman writes "Some entrepreneurs wait a lifetime to experience the thrill of selling their startup companies. Daniil Kulchenko, a Seattle area high school student, accomplished that milestone at the age of 15. Kulchenko today announced that he's sold his startup, a cloud-based computing company known as Phenona, to Vancouver, B.C.-based ActiveState in a deal of undisclosed size."

14 of 140 comments (clear)

  1. ...and now ActiveState gets mass publicity by Gr33nJ3ll0 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Slashdot's work is done!

  2. Re:Undisclosed size? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Nothing pisses off /.'ers more than seeing a kid [luckily] achieve what they never have.

  3. the story here.... by metalmaster · · Score: 4, Insightful

    the kid is 15. Another few years and this wouldnt have been newsworthy. It's good to see young people taking initiative though. Not only did he have the business sense to do something, but it was obviously something someone else thought could be worthwhile enough to purchase. kudos indeed. I certainly wasnt thinking like this 8 years ago.

    1. Re:the story here.... by Seumas · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Don't be too hard on yourself. Was your dad a robotics and AI researcher with all sorts of resources and connections to help you do something more than mow lawns? Probably not.

    2. Re:the story here.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      No offense, but the only thing stopping you is the belief that you can accomplish your goal.

      Follow your dreams if you have them, don't wait, life it way too short.

      I didn't wait, because my family wasn't exactly rollin' in the cash and at 13 I mowed lawns, and at 14 I did the early am paper route thing and hated it, so I started 2 businesses while still in middle school (only to be shut down by my school administration through a ban on my products), and in high school I started another business that I ran for 7 years before moving on and starting another business, and another, and another.

      I never got rich, but I had a freedom that can't be had in the academic or business world, so I repeat as necessary, and life remains fresh and alive , no midlife crises necessary because I've already been living it for decades, which far more important than money.

      Of course, there is nothing wrong with starting a business and selling it for big bucks, I'd love that too, but it's a rare thing, so I don't spend my energy pursuing money, just the semi autonomy being an entrepreneur can bring one.

    3. Re:the story here.... by slackbheep · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I was several times more impressed with William Kamkwamba.
      http://www.ted.com/talks/william_kamkwamba_on_building_a_windmill.html

  4. Re:Undisclosed size? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Born into being fed with silverspoon, using rich engineer Daddy's academic resources, name, and business connections is not at all impressive.

    Correction: it's not as impressive as it otherwise would be. If the dad inspired his kid that much then he is impressive too.

  5. Not sure I understand... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    How can this be? Does he have a bachelor's degree? I've been told university is a noble institution, not profit-based at all, that teaches essential things that can only be taught in a a classroom with a bearded windbag sleeping at the front?

  6. Re:Undisclosed size? by deodiaus2 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Oh, come on. Many of us have probably have had the same soft of connections he does and never managed to accomplish this.

  7. Re:Undisclosed size? by Seumas · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I didn't need to read the article to assume that was the case. You hear a lot of stories every year about genius children who discover something fantastic or start a company or a major project that makes them wealthy and/or famous and their parents are almost exclusively professionals in the same field that their child is "excelling" in. The lesson being that it's not some independent kid coming up from scratch doing something amazing - it's almost always a kid (probably smart and ambitious, still) who had a parent get them into the stuff in the first place, then support them, guide them, advise them, help them make contacts, help them find resources, have their friends and colleagues chip in where needed.

    It's not to diminish the success, but to point out that the reason THIS kid did this and YOUR kid won't is that YOU probably don't have all the resources and connections to give your child from early on to guide them into this.

  8. Re:Undisclosed size? by PNutts · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Born into being fed with silverspoon, using rich engineer Daddy's academic resources, name, and business connections... is not at all impressive.

    Citation please. The fantasy you built typically condems teens to failure. They get money, cars, and cheerleader girlfriends so why do anything else? So... If any of your fantasy of why you haven't done better in life actually turns out to be true then I have even more respect for the kid. From the TFA he was a freelance Linux admin at 11 so he got hooked young, has a knack, and stuck with it.

  9. Re:Huh by capnkr · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Doesn't seem like 'luck' had much to do with it, unless you are referring to the definition of luck which says "Luck is what happens when Preparation meets Opportunity..."

    Would be it that *I* had been as knowledgeable and motivated at his age... :)

    --
    "...there are some things that can beat smartness and foresight. Awkwardness and stupidity can." ~ Mark Twain
  10. Re:Undisclosed size? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    who cares, it's Perl.

    Fuck Perl in the ass hole with a big rubber dick then break it off when it's halfway inside. Enough about Perl.

    The important take-away from this story is that this businessdude is A) not female and B) not black. I don't have to RTFA to know that. Neither do you.

    Just keep tellin' yourself it's all a big coincidence you politically correct tool. Have fun with that!

    i can't tell if thats a sexist nigger joke or a lament about the way we treat women and "brown people" different in society

    they both work. it's like some kind of crazy quantum duality

  11. Re:Undisclosed size? by TheLink · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Ignore the haters. They're jealous and/or stupid.

    I'm not surprised that a smart kid can do what you do especially now given the vast resources available on the Internet. There's just so much a person can learn online nowadays, the issue is more of what you want to learn and spend your time on.

    When you get older you might find you have less energy and time to spend on your interests, and stuff might just not feel as interesting and exciting- you might get a bit jaded. The first time you eat ice cream is often much better than the 100th time, even though the ice cream has not changed.

    So before that happens, have fun, stay motivated, keep doing stuff and keep finding cool stuff to do! And you might find you never get old, just older ;).

    p.s. try not to spend too much time on Slashdot - it can be a big time-sink...

    --