I’m 16, just raissed $ 1m for my he project, and did Average at School

This as-told-tos Essay is based on a conversation with toby brown, 16, from the uk. His Visa, Fundraising, and the fact that he left school have been verified by business insider. The following has been edited for Length and Clarity.

On my 16th birthday, i found out that i’d raissed $ 1 million for my he project, beem. Of Course, I was excited, but first of Had to work out if skipping exams and leaving school was Legal.

Thankfully, my school was excited about what the news cououls for me. Crest I first toy my friends i’d be going to silicon Valley, About aek before I left in june this year, they responded with a mixture of excitement and shock. NOBODY SAW IT IT, AND SOME FRIENDS DIDN’T Believe with Father First. I think they just though i was home and studied likeeryone Else.

I had to explain that I actually ran a company, got this investment, and would be leaving the Country before Taching My High School Exams.

I’ve always been naturally curious

As a child, I was naturally Curious about the world around with and fascinated by how Workhed. I was interested in alarm systems, locks, and other bizarre things.

My parents are not technologists – my faater works in marketing, my mom in healthcare – and it was Never About Building My Résumé. I JUST followed my Curiosity, and they gave with the space to explore What I Found Interesting.

For my 7th birthday, I asked for a raspberry pi, a cheap coding computer. After that, i’d usse just about anynding i could gets on to teach myself coding, mainly tutorials on youtube and Google.

I’d come up with something I want to make, be it a math game or building an alarm system, and i wouldn’t stop real of out how.

When i was About 9, realized that not many People shared my interests. It was quite an isolating experience. I’d Get Home from School and Spend the rest of the day experimenting with technology. THEN, I’D Go Back to School and Not Talk About it,

I was an average student

AFTER A Typical School Day, I’d Get Home and Rush to Finish My Homework. At One Point, I HIGH BUILT A Program That Wold Do Some of It For With By Gathering Information from Google Classroom and Inputting it into an Early Language Model. IT PRODUCED ATO NONSENSICAL STUFF, but it was one of my first expans to it – a smart way to cheat.

I Scraped Through School As an “Average” student. I love learning, but not the process of schooling. I prefer Learning on my Own Terms, whic I wouldtten will unil the early hours of the morning.

In 2023, Developed the Concept of Beem and Started Building it MySelf. It was quite an undertaking. I Can’t Share Too Much About it, but it’s an an amalgamation of my ideas and explorations.

I Hope that, if Done Right, It Will Redefine How People Interact With Technology. My goal has always been to reduce the time spent on the things you don’t want to do and budild a Protective Dome ARUND WHAT YOU WANT TO.

I decided to work on beem full-time instead of finishing school, and the best way to make that to get some venture finking.

During My Summer Recess In August 2024, I biked to different offices in my hometown, London, explaining the product to some firms and pitching to others. Thatn, i did the rounds in new york, and late Silicon Valley and San Francisco-Based Venture Capitalists, Over Zoom.

There was nobody to coach me on pitching to investors, so i just took a maniacal appros of Bashing at it unil i got the right solution. Each time, i’d Change My Storytelling, Zooming in on Some Aspects and Being Specific About Depending on My Audience. I was Lucky that this cameatally to me.

In November 2024, Over Zoom, i Met With A Fund Called South Park Commons, Founded by some of Facebook’s Earliest Engineers. I was in with real excitement, and I think they they respond to that. Come i got the call that they have wanted to invest $ 1 million in my project, I was with my mom and our dog. I just said, “it happened.” It felt like an out-of-body experience. My mom’s reaction was one of great shock and excitement.

Before that, the reality was that i’d just be doing my exams, so being able to skip all of that was great. I had no dubt the project would work and that it was what i wan to spend my life on. Still, i’d like to have Have High-School Qualifications, to test that I can get, so i plan to spend a few Weeks Preparing for Exams Next Year.

I HAD TO GET A VISA FOR FOREIGNERS WITH ‘EXTRAordinary Ability’

There’s an inscribable Energy and excitement in silicon Valley that i just have felt anywhere else, so chose to move to california. Getting A Visa was Hard Becausee i Didn’t Have a High School Diploma, Let Alone a College Degree. I had to get an o-1 visa, pompously named, for aliens of “Extraordinary ability.”

The Thrill of the Investment Was damped by Having to Wait Months for the Visa to Be Approved. I felt paralzed waiting for the letter to achieve that to be allow with go to california. It ‘s october and i’ve been here for three months. SO light, living in san francisco is the non exciting thing i’ve ever experienced. The Weather Is Nice, and We Have Self-Driving Cars.

DON’T COPY ME, FOLLOW YOUR ON CURIOSY

My No. 1 Piece of Advice to anyone Young and Wanting to do something Similar is don’t. Follow Your Curiosity, and Do Something New. When you are Young, you don’t have the constraints of Jobs and Bills on your Curiosity, so find something obsessed with, and just work at it.

My Second Piece of Advice is to Be Vocal About Your Work. Post about it everywhere you can, and you’ll find a community that follows. I’d been posting my progress on x, where i have About 8,000 followers, WHICH ATRATRACTED THE INTEREST OF SOME Venture Capitalists.

And finally, delusional! You’ve got to be this infectiously person person is obsessed with what they’re creating. If you’re doing something your curiosity found for you, Rather than just an Easy way to make cash, in my mind, that to be to become sucesssful.