How a high-schooler raised $1.8M for a pet-tech startup (and how your kid can, too!)

Happy Tuesday! Here’s some inspiration to keep your week going strong.

In case you’re new here, Prequel is the free, twice-weekly newsletter for parents who want their kids to succeed. We give you weekly insights on how your children can get ahead ― in school and in life.

For this week’s newsletter, we connected with BETA camp alumnus Rishi Kothari. There are so many great takeaways from this conversation, so let’s dive in.

💡 How a high-schooler raised $1.8M for a pet-tech startup (and how your kid can, too!)

Most ambitious high schoolers take advanced classes and a few extracurriculars and call it good.

But Rishi Kothari decided to spend his high school years doing the extraordinary instead.

Like running the world’s largest hackathon for high schoolers, co-founding the startup HerdSocial, and raising $1.8M for a pet-tech company called Otto (updated figure as of May 2023).

These days, Rishi is working on Arterial, a policy-focused AI company that automates knowledge collection for businesses - and he’s already closed $450K (I’m an investor in Arterial myself!).

What enabled Rishi to do such unique and extraordinary things at such a young age?

And how can parents guide their kids to do the same?

⚡️ 3 ways to help your kids accomplish the extraordinary at any age

1. Teach them to always be on the lookout for problems that need solving.

At BETA Camp, Rishi learned that entrepreneurship is all about solving problems.

If your kids want to start their own business, don’t tell them to start by brainstorming what product they can sell. 

Tell them to start by thinking of what problem they can solve.

This is called design thinking, and it’s one of the keys to becoming a great entrepreneur.

For example, Netflix solved the problem of having to take inconvenient trips to the video store by sending you DVDs in the mail (and later, streaming them right to your home!). 

Square solved the problem of cash-only small businesses by making an affordable tool to accept credit and debit cards.

And, of course, Apple solved the problem of making computers that people could use in their homes.

Encourage your child to keep an eye out for problems they see in the world. Then, ask them: “How could you solve that?”

2. Set small goals, and always be iterating.

Rishi said, “BETA Camp and Otto taught me that iteration is key to startups.”

School teaches our kids that a project is “done” when they get their grades back. But in the real world, the best companies are constantly seeking to improve upon what they’ve done before.

Encourage your kids to set small, actionable goals — like building a single prototype of their product. 

Then, ask them to take a look at the results. What did their friends think of the product? What flaws does it have? What works really well?

Now, ask them, “What’s one small way you can improve?” Maybe they’ll try switching out a feature, resolving an issue, or testing something new.

The point is that they’ll always be making small, steady improvements over time.

3. Don’t be afraid to fail.

The advice Rishi would give to other high schoolers? “Don’t be afraid to fail… It was only when I started doing things outside of my comfort zone (like applying for fellowships) that my skillset really expanded.”

Entrepreneurship is never without risks — but that’s the whole point! As your child makes mistakes and iterates, they also learn that they can do difficult things. They stop letting fear of failure prevent them from taking action toward their dreams. 

Thanks for reading!

We’re trying out a new format this week — what did you think? Let me know what kinds of content you’d like to see more of.

Until next time,

Ivy
CEO Prequel, BETA Camp, Apollo
Follow my journey on LinkedIn