Ben Casnocha – 12 Year Old Technology Entrepreneur
- 12 Comments... Click to Contribute
by Bryan Clark
When Ben Casnocha’s 6th grade teacher informed the class that they would be doing a web project designed to help the community. Nobody would have ever seen what happened next. Ben enjoyed the project so much, he went on to found ComCate at the ripe old age of 13.
When I was 13, all I cared about was little league baseball and Saturday Night Live. To think that when properly motivated, a 12 year old can lay down the groundwork for a multi-million dollar business is something that I’m just not sure I can fathom.
In high school, Ben started to lean more towards the exploding technology sector. He started using his company ComCate to market products to multi-million dollar firms in Silicon Valley with very little success. Realizing that this may be a bit crowded for a young start-up, Casnocha focused his attention on helping government agencies with their growing IT problems.
ComCate started developing technology to resolve issues in the complaint resolution divisions of government agencies. Meeting with a great deal of success, Ben realized that he couldn’t keep up with the demand for all of the purchases himself. Ben is now, 19 and has 14 people working under him to assure that ComCate operates smoothly.
ComCate is now one of the leaders in software and IT support for government agencies all over the United States, and Ben shows no signs of slowing down. It’s scary to think just how far he might go after graduating college and being able to “really” focus some attention on his company. It is amazing to think of what a motivated 12 year old can do.
Subscribe to Entrepreneurs-Journey.com
Free with subscription
"How To Start An Internet Business
& Make Your First $1000 Onine"
Forward to Friend
Email a copy of this article to a friend
Loading ...
Respect! You have to love the internet. anyone can become a millionaire. Its not easy or fast but if you keep working on it, you can get there. even if you don’t reach millionaire status not bad making money just type punching letters and number into the keyboard in the comfort of your own home.(with or without your pants on) this guy ben and the girl who founded whateverlife are my two of my web heros. and im like a dinosaur. nice article mr clark
It’s amazing how many young kids are getting successful businesses and such early on. All I did when I was 12 was get into a few small tech e-zines – wish I was smart enough to sell software back then.
Still… one has to ask whether or not it hurts the more important side of life – the social aspects. I mean, were they able to do regular teen stuff during that time, etc. I’ve talked to a few 14-17 year olds who have pretty good careers going and most of them say it is hard for them to stay social and pursue their dreams at the same time, and that they spend more time on the phone yelling at 30 year olds than they do doing normal teen things.
I sure hope the young entrepreneurs these days can juggle social life and their career around – I didn’t have much of a teen social life (for different reasons) and I regret missing out in it all every day.
Wow Bryan at my ripe old age of 57 it is an inspirational story to hear. My grandkids are not that old yet but who knows in this world, everything is possible for them. Young Ben knew what he wanted and went for it!
Respect,it is an inspirational story to hear..
that’s should be my or any kind of inspiration to get rich through Internet
Respect,it is an inspirational story to hear..
that’s should be my or any kind of inspiration to get rich through Internet
http://Road-entrepreneur.com
What an inspiring story to hear off. Although I started blogging quite young but I really must give my salute to people like Carl the Kidblogger and Ben here.
They started younger than me and they are now more successful than me. These wonderful examples will be my benchmark as I will still be fumbling around the Internet.
Really inspired by this story. Thanks for it, Brian.
I was at a conference in Austin this summer, and one of the attendees was a 12 or 13 year old kid.
He was doing a pretty good job of networking, too.
The internet is changing the way people, especially young ones, make money. It is great to see young people improving business.
Thanks for the shout-out!
You can check out my book at: http://www.mystartuplife.com
I think alot of people would be shocked to see/read about just how many young (as in under 15) online entrepreneurs there are.
There is Ashley Qualls of Detroit who makes $70,000 a month through her myspace layout site/business (see link below), there is 15 year old Harrison Gervitz who has a staff in India and makes a ton from various internet marketing ventures, and then there is the 17 year old founder of web stats site, StatCounter.
I could go on, but you get the idea.
Bryan: You’re a great writer and an even better storyteller. I really enjoy reading your stuff.
Wow. What an inspirational story. I love to hear stories where young people get involved in the internet and have the sheer self-confidence to keep going and follow a course of action that most of us even in later years can’t duplicate.
I really hope they are teaching this kind of thinking in schools now. Think what could happened if we liberate a few more kids with this kind of passion.
Of course, kids with that kind of passion seem to find away to liberate themselves.
Nick
A highly motivating story and i have alot of respect for these young entrepreneurs. At 12, I think i could hardly pass my courses. hehe