Behind every success, there’s a story and for every story, there’s a hero. The hero lies within us and that hero is no one but our own ‘driving force’. The earlier you let it command on you, the more time you get to achieve your goal. A group of three young entrepreneurs, Rohan Bhatia, Cole Nachman and Matt Thompson had an early encounter with their interests and driving force and now have created their own company ‘Lace up’ which is ready to be launched soon next in the month. It was just another day when Indian American Rohan Bhatia, 17, was heading into his sophomore year at Wissahickon High School in Ambler. He wanted new shoes for himself so, while shopping online, he couldn’t track down the shoes he wanted to buy. This made him think what if there is an online portal which could offer people an option to view all the popular shoes at reasonable prices. Taking his thoughts into productive mode, Bhatia along with his classmates Cole Nachman and Matt Thompson, decided to create their own online retail company ‘Lace up’, the focus of which was mainly to enable users to find out what they are looking for, by sheer popularity.
The team was persistence with their plan and went on to make a good use of their summer breaks from school. They became part of the selective incubator for which they went to Chicago, San Francisco, and New York. They got ignited with a lot of business professionals, absorbed a handful of insights on starting a successful company. Along with these advisors from the incubator, these entrepreneurs also have a back from the advisors who have worked with high school entrepreneurs at every step of their way.
Lace Up is currently in beta getting user feedbacks and any potential kinks in the sites are being worked upon. The company has raised $30,000 has an initial fund which has helped the idea turned into a corporate implication, get beta testing and running and help with the marketing campaigns. The founders are not quite ready yet to perform the second round of funding so they have another plan for the movement. Bhatia, Nachman, and Thompson have created another company ‘Nxt Gen Marketing’ which provides local companies with marketing, social media and content services and the money from their channels into the funding for ‘Lace Up’.
Perseverance of these young minds has made them win the ‘Most investable company’ award at Demo day of Catapault’s final event. Having the handsome amount of interested investors lined up for them, they are currently working on the company’s corporate structure. Soon, Lace up will be launched in November and is looking forward to a big hit and hoping to get $50,000 in revenue the first year. Talent has no age and this small age group of high talents has proved it correct.
To stay updated with the Lace-Up team’s journey, be sure to follow them on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter @laceup.io and check out their site at www.laceup.io.
