He sold his biz for $30 million at 17

Morning, my friend.

I'm glad to be back.

Today, we’re going to talk about the story of this 17-year-old (now 27) who sold his mobile news summary app called Summly to Yahoo for $30 million.

Yes!

30 f*cking million dollars at the age of 17.

Sounds too good to be true, right?

Let’s look into the story of Nick D'Aloisio and see how he made so much money at such a young age.

Nick D'Aloisio was born on November 1, 1995, in London, United Kingdom.

He showed an early interest in technology and programming, starting to develop apps at a young age. Nick's entrepreneurial spirit became evident during his teenage years.

In 2011, at the age of 15, Nick developed an app called Trimit, which used an algorithm to summarize news articles and make them more readable on small screens.

The app gained attention for its innovative approach to condensing information while maintaining readability.

In March 2012, just a year after launching Trimit, Nick and his team released Summly, an evolved version of Trimit with improved algorithms for summarizing news articles.

Summly gained widespread recognition for its simplicity and effectiveness in delivering concise news summaries tailored for mobile users.

The success of Summly quickly attracted major players in the tech industry.

In March 2013, when Nick was only 17 years old, Yahoo acquired Summly for a reported $30 million.

The acquisition was notable not only for the substantial sum involved but also for Nik’s age, making him one of the youngest self-made millionaires in tech.

Following the acquisition, Summly was shut down, and the technology was integrated into Yahoo's suite of mobile products.

The Summly technology contributed to improving the presentation of news on Yahoo's mobile platform.

After the acquisition, he continued his education, studying at the University of Oxford. He maintained an active interest in technology and entrepreneurship.

In late 2015, Nick co-founded a new startup called Sphere Knowledge, an app that connects strangers interested in common topics.

The company started as a question-and-answer app that allowed users to instantly chat with paid experts. At the end of 2018, almost 500,000 people were using that version of the platform.

In March 2019, the company raised US$30 million, and in October 2021, it was acquired by Twitter (now X).

Nick D'Aloisio's journey is an inspiration to young and aspiring entrepreneurs.

It's proof of the fact that age is just a number, and with the right mindset, vision, and belief, you can build anything.

Thank you for reading.

Forward this story to a friend. It took me 2 hours to write but you can share this in just 20 seconds.

P.S. If you have any suggestions, reply to this email and I'll get back to you.

See you on Tuesday,

Armaan 🤝