Welcome back to our Sunday edition, where we round up some of our top stories and take you inside our newsroom. Burnout is common. For $130,000 a week, this burnout clinic treats CEOs, founders, and ultra-high-net-worth individuals who require discreet and private care. Included: medical treatments, a midday IV, a personal trainer, and a private chef.
On the agenda today:
- How America became a nation of small-time scammers.
- The year of Big Tech’s no good, very bad job market.
- The CEO of HR giant SHRM responded after a “nuclear” $11.5 million employee discrimination verdict.
- A day in the life of the former WeightWatchers CEO-turned-professor.
But first: The new wave of leaders is young.
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This week’s dispatch
Tomorrow’s leaders are here today
Forget big lecture halls, dream internships, or comfy full-time jobs.
There’s a growing cohort of young professionals who are approaching their careers differently. They’re torching the traditional playbook and doing things their own way in an effort to reshape industries and solve global challenges.
We’ve spent the past year interviewing “young geniuses” — the next wave of leaders, innovators, and builders who are taking unconventional approaches to work, some as early as high school.
These folks aren’t just making a living, either. They’re earning serious dough at a young age by building AI tools, moving fast, and raising money from investors willing to bet big on the AI race.
Business Insider spoke to 16 young founders this year who have collectively raised over $100 million. They’re under the age of 27. Many are even teenagers.
Here are some of their stories and advice for others.
Zach Yadegari sold his first app at 16 and cofounded an AI-powered nutrition app while he was still in high school. It’s generating around $30 million annually. “My advice to anyone would be to get started. Ignore the noise, ignore the people telling you that it’s impossible to do it at a young age, and ignore the people trying to push you down a specific path to accomplish your goals.”
Christine Zhang turned down an internship to spend two months building an AI startup with her college roommate. By the end of the summer, they raised $1 million. She’s taking a gap year from Harvard to focus on the startup. “I had to delete my Instagram during the first week of classes so I wouldn’t get FOMO. However, I don’t regret my decision, and the feeling of missing out has definitely improved over time.”
Arlan Rakhmetzhanov dropped out of high school to launch an AI coding agent startup that’s raised $6.2 million. Both of his parents are entrepreneurs. He taught himself to code and founded his first company at the age of 15. “Being young gives you a head start. There’s still time if you fail, which is why young people try crazy things.”
Are you a young genius? In awe of what the kids are doing these days? Drop me a line and let me know what you think — [email protected]
The United States of Fraud
What are the values that define America? Liberty, patriotism — and thievery, as it turns out. From petty shoplifting to return fraud, everyday Americans are becoming small-time scammers.
They’re not stealing from everyone — just the companies they deem big enough to weather the loss, or those they think are making money off their backs. But too much Robin Hood-ing could have unintended consequences for small businesses … and the rest of us who are still paying for things.
Big Tech’s tough job market
While much of the broader labor market has been marked by slow hiring, it’s also been cushioned by low levels of firing. That’s not the case for the tech industry, though.
US tech companies have announced roughly 154,000 layoffs through November, according to Challenger. That’s a 17% increase from the prior year and the most of any private-sector industry. These cuts have fueled fierce competition for roles. BI spoke to more than 20 tech professionals who are struggling to find work.
“It feels like recruiters are looking for Superman.”
After the verdict
When a jury returned an $11.5 million verdict to a former SHRM employee who sued for racial discrimination, CEO Johnny Taylor sent a clear message: The fight isn’t over yet.
In a video seen by Business Insider, Taylor said the case lacked merit and would go down as “just a blip in the history of SHRM.” The company said in a LinkedIn post that it planned to appeal the decision.
Also read:
A CEO-turned-professor
When Sima Sistani left her role as CEO at WeightWatchers, she called Oprah for advice. She told Sistani to take a year to say no to everything. Now, Sistani is an adjunct professor at Duke University, teaching a course on women’s leadership.
For BI’s Power Hours series, Sistani shared what a typical day in her life looks like — from reading a physical newspaper and prepping talking points for her class, to ending the day with a romance fantasy novel.
Daily affirmations and less time on phones.
This week’s quote:
“It’s a zero-sum game they’re losing, and it’s only going to get worse.”
— Doug Shapiro, a media analyst and senior advisor at BCG, on media companies struggling to get people to engage with their content following Disney’s deal with OpenAI.
BI rode a Rivian spin-off e-bike around New York City
Bike fanatic and BI correspondent Jack Newsham took Also’s TM-B e-bike for a spin around the city. Here’s what happened.
More of this week’s top reads:
- Inside Scale AI after Meta.
- Exclusive: Disney employees describe its internal AI strategy, from “DisneyGPT” to a new “Jarvis” tool in the works.
- Wall Street is starting to worry about a “lost decade” for US stocks.
- Welcome to the golden age of employee monitoring.
- Exclusive: Nvidia staffer called Microsoft’s cooling system for Blackwell GPUs “wasteful,” internal email shows.
- Google stands to make $111 billion if SpaceX goes public at a $1.5 trillion valuation.
- Warren Buffett’s deputy goes to JPMorgan: What close watchers say about Jamie Dimon hiring Todd Combs.
- What does Apollo CEO Marc Rowan want for Christmas? To define private credit.
- Instead of applying for jobs, this AWS exec writes proposals for new roles she wants to create.
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Exclusive: Meta plans price hike for its virtual reality devices, internal memo shows.
The BI Today team: Steve Russolillo, chief news editor, in New York. Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Akin Oyedele, deputy editor, in New York. Grace Lett, editor, in New York. Amanda Yen, associate editor, in New York.
Read the original article on Business Insider
The post Meet the young founders who have raised millions for their startups appeared first on Business Insider.
