Mentoring and Business Funding: Embracing Your Best Odds by Marshall Haas, Teen CEO of inVision Projects
[Note: Like most serial teen entrepreneurs Marshall Haas (http://www.invisionprojects.com) woke up in the middle of the night having a creative moment and wanted to capture his vision in the essence of the moment. So he wrote the following guest post on his beloved iPhone and promptly sent it to me as soon as he finished. So please pardon some of the grammatical errors. And by the way Marshall- you are most welcome and I am very honored to be the second person who got to touch and share your living dream. In the famous words of one of my Renegade CEO's, Matthew Turcotte of Northshore Web Development "One of the best things about being a teen entrepreneur is that adults want to see you succeed."]
Take it away Marshall 
Tonight, I realized something very obvious yet very inspiring. Although I try to surround myself with as many like minded entrepreneurs, we are rare. First off obviously there are only so many entrepreneurs out there. Then I thought geez there really aren’t a ton of young entrepreneurs in the overall entrepreneur mix. We are a niche market in and of ourselves. I’ve come to realize in the last few weeks there are several niche organizations seeking out the best young entrepreneurs. If I’m rare, I’ve got great odds at chasing being the best in the world in my niche.
Example:
Yanik Silver and Shonika Proctor only had so many kids apply for the Young Entrepreneur Challenge. I’m sure they had their choices but let’s be honest, it wasn’t like the 100,000,000 to 1 lottery. I’m going to embrace my odds and seek out organizations such as ObsidianLaunch.com (which I just found) I’m figuring out there are several coaching organizations, (Yanik Silvers new “giving back” plan) and investor groups specifically seeking out young entrepreneurs like myself and possibly you if you’ve stumbled upon this article. Learn, embrace, and give yourself the best odds.
The aim of this post was to make kids like myself realize we actually have great odds at succeeding NOW rather than the guy starting his first business in his 30’s and on. The odds are in our favor. I am
realizing this more and more everyday.
Think of the media, parents, and the majority of Americans! We all like to know that a 19 year old adolescent can be great and do what other, wiser, more experienced people sometimes can not. We all love the young pop stars, child actors, the teenage sports prodigies, and yes… The young millionaire CEO’s.
I feel so very blessed with this new opportunity I have been given. February 20th could not come sooner. Thank you Yanik Silver, Shonika Proctor, and the many groups seeking to uplift young people like
myself. I will be seeking you guys out a lot more! 
February 9th, 2009 at 1:24 am
One of the things that I am required to deal with is to be seen differently by college peers. They’re like “Why the hell on Earth someone is using the computer like day in day out without fail? And wait, he is not playing World of Warcraft!”
Sometimes it makes me think that finding a like-minded gamer, clubber or gossiper is way easier than hooking up with like-minded entrepreneurs.
Anyway, nice motivational writeup here. Young entrepreneurs should take up networking opportunities that they came across due to the rareness. Sorry for my ranting.
Wayne
February 9th, 2009 at 9:47 am
@Wayne, I DO hope that you manage to get outside and play in the offline world every now and again
I agree. There is really a lot of support esp. in the states for young entrepreneurs. Young people need to stop looking at being a teen CEO as a negative thing and start leveraging that to their advantage. Translation: Raising capital and getting ‘priceless’ free advice for your business—definitely think both of those things are far easier to do when you are younger.
February 9th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
Shonika,
I realized when I forwarded you my email “Hacking” in the beginning of the title should have never been there (OOPS!). Could you change that?
Also articles like this can be found on my personal blog JuvenileBusiness.com
@Wayne, Thanks for the kind words… I’ve been checking out your site- good stuff!
-Marshall Haas
February 9th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
@Marshall…I thought it was a bit strange word to have in the title. I guess that is what happens when you write at 2 in the morning
February 9th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
@Shonika
Haha, yes I hoped you caught the 2:30AM send time!
October 31st, 2009 at 4:21 pm
I have to say, Marshall is one motivating individual! I am happy I came across this article after talking with Marshall this afternoon and was so surprised to see Matthew Turcotte mentioned as well!
I am a junior at Clarkson University and Matthew lives close by. And Wayne Liew commented as well, he’s a great young entrepreneur!
Awesome blog with some really great minds associated. Love Mike Michalowicz too. I will definitely be checking back to this blog often!