I started my first real business at 13, after cornering the local market for lemonade stands. Back then, nobody had heard of Zuckerberg and nobody called my company a startup. I was just a computer nerd creating websites... but I loved it and I was good at it!
I worked on massive projects as a teenager, including websites for a Grammy Award-winning musician and a Hollywood movie. It was awesome, but I wanted to put my talents toward a real cause. So when I was 18, my mother and I started a nonprofit with the goal of improving the lives of Vancouver’s homeless population.
It became a huge success, and the model behind our business has since been replicated worldwide. I learned things running that nonprofit that have informed everything I’ve done since, including the value in doing right by other people.