People say age is just a number, and for Catherine Cook that couldn’t be truer, she became a career girl at the age of just sixteen! Some girls just have what it takes and can make a business work for them without compromising who they are, if you need some motivation to keep going no matter how inexperienced you feel, this story is perfect!
The story of Catherine Cook is a real motivation boost and very inspiring! In 2005, the then 16-year-old Catherine and her brothers were flipping through their yearbook and came up with the idea to make a digital version. They just moved to a new school and simply wanted to make new friends, so creating an online platform seemed like a great way to start.
The oldest brother of the family was already a Web entrepreneur, and Catherine and her younger brother convinced him to invest $250.000 into their website. In 2006, these Super Kids managed to acquire $4.1 million in funding and MyYearBook was ranked amongst the top website for children between 12-17.
In just 6 years time, they managed to grow their website into a platform with 20 million users and 1.2 billion monthly page views. In the early years of their website, a company offered a couple of thousands to buy MyYearbook, and although most teenagers would gladly have said yes, these siblings rejected the offer and decided to keep working on their own website. A great lesson we can learn from that is that sometimes the best people to develop a business with are your family, you might have falling outs but you can never stop being siblings and you can probably be more honest with them than with anyone else. Another great lesson we can learn from Catherine Cook is not to take the first offer that’s thrown your way and believe in the product you’re creating.
Little did they know that rejecting that offer would become one of the best decisions they ever made. In 2011, only 6 years after they started, a public traded social network offered $100 million and the then 21-year-old Catherine could retire before most of her highschool friends even finished university! A truly inspiring story on knowing your business values, creating a product you would like to use and staying true to yourself!
Featured image: Girl Scouts
Credit: Forbes
Wow, the idea of her and her brother was so clever!
xx from Bavaria/Germany, Rena http://www.dressedwithsoul.com
Truly inspiring story!!! Thanks for sharing!
Kisses, Lucy
Lucy Van Dean | Instagram
That’s really cool! I’m in a band with my four younger siblings, ages 12-26. It’s amazing to be sharing our experiences and talents together.
Such inspiring story!! I think advice can be taken from this when talking about PR companies too!!:)x
AllysDays.blogspot.com
This is an incredible story for a large number of reasons, but the one that really stuck out to me is believing in your product! Have faith in what you’re selling, know your worth, and never settle. So awesome!
Conner M.