After Striking It Big With Bitcoin, This 15-Year-Old Kid Is Backing His Own Education Startup
Last month he used the money to launch his education startup, Botangle, Mashable reports.
The 15-year-old entrepreneur and programmer is passionate about do-it-yourself education. Since he was young, he's taught himself and his friends about computing and robotics, Mashable reports. Currently, Finman is furthering his own high school education through homeschooling, and doesn't plan on continuing to college.
"I actually have a deal with my parents that if I make a million dollars before I turn 18, I don't have to go to college. I'm going to do it or die trying," the teenager told Mashable. His other goal with his company, which now boasts 20 employees, is to help other kids do the essentially do the same.
"I don't think of Botangle as an online tutoring site. I think of it as an online institution," Finman told Business Insider in an email. "I'm working on making Botangle the best website on the web for some for someone to completely leave the status quo education system and learn completely through the web!"
The young entrepreneur said he faced some situations in school with teachers who made him feel discouraged, but through his internet idols, Reddit's Alexis Ohanian and PayPal's Peter Thiel, he found inspiration.
"I wasn't happy with my local schools in Idaho, even one of my teachers said I would be working in the fast food industry for the rest of my life," he said.
After reading Ohanian's book, he decided to take action and start something new, something he would want to use himself.
Finman said, "Peter Thiel shares my vision in that no matter how old you are, you can still change the world. Not just incrementally but create something new, and as Peter Thiel says: Go from 0 to 1."