Thomas Suarez (below) set up his first company when he was
just 11 years old.
He is now working on a patent-pending 3D printer
which, he says, will work 10 times faster than the MakerBot model he uses at
home.
But in most other ways, Thomas is anything but
typical. At 15, he is a seasoned businessman.
The teenager tinkers with 3D printing technology
when he's not in school or codes new apps for smartphones or Google Glass
(which he wears all the time outside of school).
He also has his own company, CarrotCorp, formed when
he was 11 years old and making his first apps.
Thomas' most popular creation to date is
"Bustin Jieber," a smartphone game that allows people to pretend to
whack pop star Justin Bieber to make him scream and it all happens to the Benny
Hill theme song.
Between Hollywood and Silicon Valley, California has
always celebrated youth culture and entrepreneurs. Increasingly, these worlds
are colliding as kids here start their own companies.
Thomas also does product and technology reviews for
the Tribeca Film Festival and is already a popular speaker at technology
conferences. But isn't running a company as well too much pressure for a
teenager?
"There's something that makes me want to keep
going and keep innovating," he says, laughing at being asked if he'd be
better off outside climbing trees or riding a bike.
"I feel that my interests will always lie in
technology. Maybe I should go outside more but I just really like this stuff."
Thomas is completely self-taught when it comes to
coding and business, although he gets help from his parents on the business
end.
He thinks it's a mistake that his school in
Manhattan Beach and other California public schools do not offer more technology
courses.
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