A school boy entrepreneur dubbed ‘the next Alan Sugar’ told of his pride today at making his first £MILLION – after starting his business at the age of 14.
Delighted Christian Owens, now 16, used his pocket money to fund his first venture, website Mac Box Bundle, which has taken £700,000 since its launch in 2008.
He launched advertising pay-per-click company ‘Branchr’ a year later and worked on the company after school and at weekends.
Branchr was a smash hit with internet sites, made a staggering £500,000 in its first year and now counts betting site William Hill and social networking site MySpace as devoted clients.
Christian, from Corby, Northants., currently employs eight adult workers around the UK and America as sales and technical assistants and plans to open two Branchr offices in the next year.
The youngster, who lives with his parents, company secretary Alison, 43 and factory worker dad Julian, 50, was inspired to go into business after watching Apple CEO Steve Jobs storm to success.
He invests the majority of his earnings back into his businesses and is determined to make £100 million with Branchr in the future.
He said: ”I really wanted to create something groundbreaking and simple, that would revolutionise the way advertising works.
”Mac Box Bundle was already becoming a success but I really wanted to push myself and do something different, so I came up with the idea of Branchr.
”I think everyone has business sense in them, they just need to gain experience and be determined to make it.
”My friends and I don’t really talk about my success, to them I’m just a normal teenager and it doesn’t change anything between us.
”There is no magical formula to business, it takes hard work, determination and the drive to do something great
”My aim is to become a leading name in the world of internet and mobile advertising and push myself right to the top of the game.
”I don’t know where I will be in 10 years time but I won’t leave Branchr until it has reached £100 million.”
Christian, who has used a computer since the age of seven, began teaching himself basic web design at the age of 10 when he was given his first Mac computer.
Branchr works as a platform for website owners to sell advertising space, and business owners to buy it.
The company now sells more than 250 million adverts to 11,000 websites every month and has acquired a second company, Atomplan, which provides business software.
Mac Box Bundle sells a combination of popular Mac applications, worth up to £400USD together for under £100USD a time, and donates 10 percent of each price to charity.
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After reading these types of articles, I feel like a complete waste of space
congrulations.
Apple people hemorrhage money; following the Jobs example is a fantastic way to start a business. Good for this kid!
Apple people hemorrhage money; following the Jobs example is a fantastic way to start a business. Good for this kid!
Wow,,,!!! Very nice!
Wow,,,!!! Very nice!
Cool, this is what I hope to achieve myself as I am involved in a start up social enterprise run by all teenagers ages 16-18 and we are starting to gain recognition and moving the business further.
Cool, this is what I hope to achieve myself as I am involved in a start up social enterprise run by all teenagers ages 16-18 and we are starting to gain recognition and moving the business further.
Way to go kid. Great thought!!
Way to go kid. Great thought!!
Amazing and Inspirational. Great news to share.
Thanks for publishing.
Amazing and Inspirational. Great news to share.
Thanks for publishing.
i love his business card design
i love his business card design
A great example to today's youth, and the sort of enterprise the country needs to get itself out of its financial hole. Well done Christian.
A great example to today's youth, and the sort of enterprise the country needs to get itself out of its financial hole. Well done Christian.
People on the net complain that his networks are scam and payments are often not happening.
People on the net complain that his networks are scam and payments are often not happening.
Hey Man,,,,,Could you spare $57,986. My elderly mom is a few weeks from passing away. We are so poor, I do not have any money or vehicle to drive her to the cemetery for burial. Man, I'm begging, please help me bury my Mom in a noble christian way.
that is really nice zand i wish i could make a web site mak money……..i rreally hope tht yu make it all way…..im sure yur parents are very happy …………
that is really nice zand i wish i could make a web site mak money……..i rreally hope tht yu make it all way…..im sure yur parents are very happy …………
Fantastic story.
All the best to your continued success…
Fantastic story.
All the best to your continued success…
It's getting worse and worse. Try yourselves http://branchr.com/
Who can tell me what the mac box bundle is?
Thanks a lot.
Who can tell me what the mac box bundle is?
Thanks a lot.
The kid is amazing!!
The kid is amazing!!
Hi Christian,
I don't even know you but I am Impressed with your ability to earn a living. I'm on the other side of the picture. I am 68 and feel that I am an eliterate. The reason being is I think I messed up and didn't use my head and brain power at an early age and am paying for it now. So I'm gonna do like I did when I learned how to ride a bicycle. When I fell down, I got back up until I did learn to ride that bicycle.
Keep up the good work and you will be able to progress for a long time to come.
Richard Sanderson
How did you do it? I am 76 and on CPP. Need $ to keep on going.
How did you do it? I am 76 and on CPP. Need $ to keep on going.
sonny baker u neva told me u was millionaire!!!!???
sonny baker u neva told me u was millionaire!!!!???
Jajajaja wow oh mama this boy is so smart and he is older then me lol i just want to become a doctor or nurse so dat i could help people! but this baker is making a living i think i should do da same thing as him but first i still need to finish high school lol!
Jajajaja wow oh mama this boy is so smart and he is older then me lol i just want to become a doctor or nurse so dat i could help people! but this baker is making a living i think i should do da same thing as him but first i still need to finish high school lol!
This kid plagiarized MacHeist down to the letter. And his Branchr logo is completely derivitive as well. I wish he could have made his money a little more ethically. Albeit, I would gladly ripoff MacHeist’s Idea (and branding), just as he did for that money.
I read about you & really I like your future plan…..
Whilst I applaud the entrepreneurial spirit of this, the fact is all that this young man is doing is capitalising on your greed. You see goods amounting to $X and he offers them at their true worth of $Y. As a Mac technician, I know that some of the software has some very dubious testing behind it and there are some I wouldn’t let near my Mac let alone your Hackintosh.
Branchr went bust! It doesn’t exist anymore. It’s gone quietly. Little Christian Owens has maybe gotten away with a lot of money but what he’s definitely gotten away with was to give no explanation!
He must have a quite rich family and I think he will come back :)))))