Kid Squats at AOL, Starts Company
This is a story that is making the rounds around the start-up community and I thought you guys would enjoy it. duffmt6 tipped me off to it a few days ago and now it's gaining some steam on the Twittersphere.
19-year old high school graduate Eric Simons is not a big fan of school. Rather than go to college, he set out to start a company that would revolutionize the way lessons were taught in school. So far it sounds like just another dreamer turned entrepreneur about to get slapped in the face by reality.
However, after crashing on his buddies couches for several months, Simons was accepted into Imagine K12, a Silicon Valley incubator focused on education companies, which happened to be housed on the AOL campus in Palo Alto. The program lasted four months and he received $20,000 in seed capital, but the time and money eventually ran out. Rather than drop back and punt, Simons just kept coming to work. He discovered that AOL didn't turn off his security badge when the program ended, so he lived on the AOL campus for the next two months until he was caught by security.
When I say he lived on the campus, I mean he lived on the campus. He slept on couches in people's offices, he showered at the gym, he ate the free food, the whole shebang. The first month he squatted he spent a total of $30. All the while he continued building his start-up ClassConnect. And his gamble paid off. Even after being caught, he was far enough along in the process to score another $50,000 in venture capital, and now the product is taking off.
My life's motto has always been Audentes Fortuna Iuvat, which is Latin for "Fortune favors the brave". It can also be translated as fortune favors the audacious, which fits this kid to a tee. Sometimes you have to color outside the lines to be successful.






Comments
Man, it is good to be young.
Man, it is good to be young. If your only responsibility is yourself, you can live on-campus Rudy style, but when you start getting into your late 20's, you'll get locked up. I'm glad this guy was able to continue his venture, I hope it works well. I spent 11 years in arguably the best public school system in the country (fairfax county), went to a private for my senior year of high school, and saw firsthand the general waste of time and opportunity that public school students face. I really hope that there can be a change in the way public schools are taught. Silicon Valley can provide half of the solution, but the other half needs to come from the school districts. Teachers need to be creative, and teach creativity.
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wannabeaballer: Man, it is
Man, it is good to be young. If your only responsibility is yourself, you can live on-campus Rudy style, but when you start getting into your late 20's, you'll get locked up. I'm glad this guy was able to continue his venture, I hope it works well. I spent 11 years in arguably the best public school system in the country (fairfax county), went to a private for my senior year of high school, and saw firsthand the general waste of time and opportunity that public school students face. I really hope that there can be a change in the way public schools are taught. Silicon Valley can provide half of the solution, but the other half needs to come from the school districts. Teachers need to be creative, and teach creativity.
The other half of the solution needs to come from PARENTS not mom OR dad, but both working together and certainly not a school district, which has already failed because of corruption and stupidity and has no incentive or desire to try anything truly beneficial. (Run on sentence, see how the schools failed).
Fantastic, good for him.
Fantastic, good for him. Peter Thiel needs to get in touch with this kid; he is the perfect poster child for self education.
My mom once fell asleep on a
My mom once fell asleep on a bean bag of an incubator...drunk.
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We should all be so lucky to
We should all be so lucky to care that much about something. Good for him.
"Dont compromise yourself; you're all you've got" - Janis Joplin
Now AOL is going to claim
Now AOL is going to claim ownership of the intellectual property and the business given that it was developed with its computers on its campus using its resources.
Work hard, play hard.
Silicon Valley's version of
Silicon Valley's version of "Pursuit of Happiness".
"I am the hero of the story. I don't need to be saved."
IlliniProgrammer: Now AOL is
Now AOL is going to claim ownership of the intellectual property and the business given that it was developed with its computers on its campus using its resources.
I think it can be argued that he developed his idea after the duration of the incubator program and therefore he is not subject to any employment or independent contractor like agreements. Hopefully, he used his own laptop so they can't steal his idea.
He developed it on AOL
He developed it on AOL property using AOL resources, so most IPAs would cover that, regardless of his current employer.
Your NDA, IPA, non-compete, non-disparagement, etc rules extend AFTER you leave the firm. This would actually be a fairly clear-cut case from what I have seen as a technologist.
A.) He signed the IPA.
B.) The IPA included any work he did on company premises using company resources.
C.) He spent 24/7 on company premises while developing the product.
This kid's success is great news for AOL, and great news for this kid, too. He will be getting an $80K/year office job without a college degree, and AOL will be making millions off of the business.
Work hard, play hard.
IlliniProgrammer: He
He developed it on AOL property using AOL resources, so most IPAs would cover that, regardless of his current employer.
Your NDA, IPA, non-compete, non-disparagement, etc rules extend AFTER you leave the firm. This would actually be a fairly clear-cut case from what I have seen as a technologist.
A.) He signed the IPA.
B.) The IPA included any work he did on company premises using company resources.
C.) He spent 24/7 on company premises while developing the product.
This kid's success is great news for AOL, and great news for this kid, too. He will be getting an $80K/year office job without a college degree, and AOL will be making millions off of the business.
Yeah, but what consideration was lawfully offered by AOL (not what he stole) after the duration of the incubator program to be considered a legitimate written or implied-in-law contract that can be enforceable?
Housing, firm resources. The
Housing, firm resources. The kid could have never done this startup without AOL. The fact that he knowingly and willingly chose to use those resources, whether or not they were stolen, gives AOL claim over all of them under most IPAs.
I mean, the alternative you are suggesting is for AOL to send this kid to jail for burglary. He broke into the building, he stole computer time, paper, food, etc for an entire month and the business was the result. It's the fruit of what he stole from AOL, so it belongs to AOL anyways. Either way, the kid is going to wind up with an $80-200K/year job running this business for AOL, and AOL will wind up with the business.
Work hard, play hard.
IlliniProgrammer: Housing,
Housing, firm resources. The kid could have never done this startup without AOL. The fact that he knowingly and willingly chose to use those resources, whether or not they were stolen, gives AOL claim over all of them under most IPAs.
It's really that simple.
If your an investor do you bail now and count your losses or play your cards?
You find a good lawyer and
You find a good lawyer and have him reach out to AOL's General Counsel and try to settle this.
If they're in a really good mood and you've got a brilliant lawyer, they might give you some upside. If they're not bastards, they'll probably buy you out for your original investment amount. Partly to avoid the legal hassle, partly because your investment probably covered expenses they would normally have had to cover, anyways. Then you listen to your lawyer's advice.
IP was part of the DD you *should* have done when you invested, so it's your own darn fault you missed that AOL effectively has a call option on the business.
Work hard, play hard.
IlliniProgrammer: You find a
You find a good lawyer and have him reach out to AOL's General Counsel.
If they're not bastards, they'll probably buy you out for your original investment amount. Partly to avoid the legal hassle, partly because your investment probably covered expenses they would normally have had to cover.
Then you listen to your lawyer's advice.
Lol.
wannabeaballer: The other
The other half of the solution needs to come from PARENTS not mom OR dad, but both working together
Honestly....THIS. I've been through public, Catholic, private, homeschool, seminary, and self instruction...and the one variable that really made a difference is having stability at home and having parents that encouraged (/enforced) studying. When that breaks, down, it doesn't matter what school the kid goes to, they're not motivated/disciplined.
Dude, this kid is the definition of the word committment, I wish him all the best luck.
YOU JUST GOT TROLLED
http://www.troll.me/images/red-foreman322/dont-you...
But seriously, as an
Work hard, play hard.
Saw this yesterday. Good on
Human: Silicon Valley's
No pain, no pain.
IlliniProgrammer: RE:
who else thought squat meant
Edmundo Braverman: Jesus, IP,
Work hard, play hard.
What contract did he sign
YOU JUST GOT TROLLED
http://www.troll.me/images/red-foreman322/dont-you...
They own HuffPo now, they
Love it.
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Whenever an F500 gives money
Work hard, play hard.
he wasn't an employee he was
I forgot that huffpost owns
YOU JUST GOT TROLLED
http://www.troll.me/images/red-foreman322/dont-you...
Then again AOL also has
Work hard, play hard.
Actually, IP, I think you're
Sergey Aleynikov? C'mon man,
I'm not being a dick here,
Eddie, he was dining in the
Work hard, play hard.
Edmundo Braverman: I'm not
Work hard, play hard.
Huff Po is running articles
Aleynikov actually stole
YOU JUST GOT TROLLED
http://www.troll.me/images/red-foreman322/dont-you...
Aleynikov stole his own
Work hard, play hard.
Regardless of the legal
A lot of people do certain things to add days to their life. I do things to add life to my days.
^^^ That said, if someone,
Work hard, play hard.
Does anyone know any details
YOU JUST GOT TROLLED
http://www.troll.me/images/red-foreman322/dont-you...
IlliniProgrammer: ^^^ That
YOU JUST GOT TROLLED
http://www.troll.me/images/red-foreman322/dont-you...
Thing is....they knew he was
Work hard, play hard.
IlliniProgrammer: ...If you
"The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant, it's just that they know so much that isn't so."
- Ronald Reagan
Just hope that his buyout is
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Third prize is you're fired.
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