Made For More
Inside this inaugural issue: three founders who built real companies before they left school, the disciplines that carry a founder through a first year, a letter on why this publication exists, and the launch of our first monthly giveaway.
Why This Publication Exists
We began The Youngpreneur Journal with a single conviction: that no one is too young to build something real, and that the most persuasive evidence of this is another young person who has already done so. A statistic can be dismissed. A peer cannot. When a reader recognizes a version of themselves in a founder’s story, the question quietly shifts from whether they could begin to when they will.
Youngpreneur exists to equip the next generation of builders, dreamers, and doers. Ten percent of every purchase we make supports young founders through Youngpreneur Academy. The gear is the part you wear. This Journal is the part you use. In each issue we will publish real founders, durable lessons, and practical tools that a reader can put to work the same day they encounter them.
This inaugural issue is an introduction. It sets out who we are, what a reader can expect, and it profiles three founders who began in childhood and built companies of genuine standing. We are gathering stories from within our own community, and we invite yours. Until those arrive, we begin with founders whose work is already a matter of public record, and whose examples are available to anyone willing to learn from them.
They Did Not Wait
Each of the founders on the following pages began before the age of ten. Each turned a personal problem into a company that endures. None waited for permission.
Mikaila Ulmer
A childhood curiosity about bees became a national beverage brand, and a lesson in building a company around conviction.
At four years old, Mikaila Ulmer was stung by two bees in a single week. Rather than retreat from the encounter, she grew curious about the insects and the essential role they play in the food we eat. At roughly the same time, her family rediscovered a great grandmother’s lemonade recipe from the 1940s. Ulmer combined the two interests, sweetened her lemonade with honey, and began selling it from a stand near her home.
That stand became Me & the Bees, a brand now carried in more than a thousand retail locations. Ulmer secured an investment on national television, has addressed audiences at the highest levels of business and government, and directs a share of every sale toward organizations that protect honeybees. She continues to lead the company she founded as a young adult.
The lesson for a young founder is not that lemonade is a path to success. It is that a problem one genuinely cares about can become the organizing purpose of a company, and that purpose, held consistently, is what carries a brand from a folding table to a national shelf.
- Founder
- Mikaila Ulmer
- Age at founding
- Four
- Company
- Me & the Bees Lemonade
- Known for
- Purpose-led brand, bee conservation
Source: Mikaila Ulmer, Wikipedia
Moziah Bridges
Unable to find neckwear he admired, a nine year old designed his own, and turned a refusal on national television into a lasting enterprise.
Moziah Bridges wanted to present himself well and could not find bow ties he considered worthy of the effort. So, at nine years old, he took up his grandmother’s fabric and began making his own. He named the company Mo’s Bows, and by the age of twelve he was presenting it to investors on national television.
He did not leave that appearance with an investment. What he gained instead was a mentor, the entrepreneur Daymond John, who continued to advise him after the broadcast concluded. The company grew, surpassed six figures in sales, and later secured a licensing agreement with the National Basketball Association to produce neckwear in team colors.
Bridges offers young founders a durable principle: rejection is rarely the end of a matter. The founders who endure are those who treat a decline as information, retain the counsel of people who believe in them, and come back with a stronger proposition.
- Founder
- Moziah Bridges
- Age at founding
- Nine
- Company
- Mo’s Bows
- Known for
- Design, resilience, a national licensing agreement
Source: Mo’s Bows, official site
Gabrielle Goodwin
A daily frustration most families simply tolerate became a patented invention, and a brand built on confidence.
Each morning, Gabrielle Goodwin lost the barrettes in her hair, and each morning her mother spent the better part of half an hour replacing them. Most families would have accepted the inconvenience as ordinary. Goodwin and her mother resolved instead to solve it, and together they developed the first patented double face, double snap barrette, an accessory engineered to stay in place.
She was seven years old when GaBBY Bows began. In the years since, she has earned multiple patents, grown the venture into a broader brand, published a children’s book with a major publisher, and entered university while continuing to lead the company she built as a child.
Goodwin’s example directs a young founder’s attention to the overlooked. The most promising opportunities are often the small, daily frustrations that people have learned to endure. To notice one, and to refuse to endure it, is frequently where a business begins.
- Founder
- Gabrielle Goodwin
- Age at founding
- Seven
- Company
- GaBBY Bows
- Known for
- Invention, patents, an enduring brand
Source: Vanderbilt University
Five Disciplines for a First Year
A first move matters more than a perfect plan. These five disciplines are drawn from the founders in this issue and from the pattern their stories share.
- Begin with a problem you hold personally. The most durable first products resolve a difficulty the founder has experienced first hand and understands completely.
- Produce before you promote. Make a modest quantity and place it in the hands of real customers. Evidence is more persuasive than intention.
- Price for endurance. Cover your costs, compensate yourself modestly, and preserve a margin to reinvest. A business that cannot sustain itself cannot serve anyone.
- Lead with meaning. Customers adopt the reason a product exists as readily as the product itself. State plainly why your work matters.
- Treat refusal as instruction. Every founder in this issue was declined before they succeeded. Ask what to improve, and return with a stronger case.
The Gear That Carries the Mission
Every Youngpreneur piece is made to be worn by the next generation of builders. Ten percent of every purchase supports young founders through Youngpreneur Academy.
Opens August 1
Win Youngpreneur Gear, Every Month
This issue marks the launch of the Youngpreneur Monthly Giveaway, which opens August 1. Every month we give away Youngpreneur gear, free, to the adults raising and cheering on a young founder. This month’s prize is one (1) Youngpreneur 20 oz Sport Water Bottle.
The giveaway is open to legal United States residents 18 and older, one entry per person each month. Enter through the free Youngpreneur App, then share your personal link. Every friend who enters through it earns you a bonus entry, up to five in total. No purchase is necessary.
August 1 to 21, 2026. The winner is drawn during the first week of September.
Open to legal U.S. residents 18+. See the Official Rules. This giveaway is not sponsored by or associated with Apple or Google.
The Wider World
More Ways to Take Part
The Journal is one part of a larger effort to recognize and equip young founders. A few more ways to be seen, be challenged, and take part:
Youngpreneur 40
Our annual list honoring forty standout founders age forty and under. Recognition for those already building something that lasts.
Youngpreneurs to Watch
An ongoing series profiling the young founders rising fast, the names worth knowing before everyone knows them.
Youngpreneur Spotlight
A design competition for creators age twenty-four and under, with a stage for their work and their point of view.
The Youngpreneur Challenge
Twenty dollars, two weeks, one real business. A hands-on sprint that turns an idea into an actual venture.
Be Considered for the Next Issue
We are seeking young founders to profile in future issues. If you are building something, or you know someone who is, we would like to hear from you.