A Hiring, Promotions, and a Teens Plugged In Wrap-Up
Teens in Tech is delighted to report the hiring of David Ford. David was hired to be Teens In Tech’s Support Lead in late May and also hosts David’s Tech Show. Welcome aboard, David!
Teens in Tech is also delighted to report the promotions of Max Murphy and Richard Escobedo. Max was promoted from his previous role as Vice President of Content to President of Media Development. Richard was promoted from his previous role as Vice President of Operations to Chief Operating Officer. Congratulations to both Max and Richard for their new positions!
As mentioned below, the Teens Plugged In: Second Annual Teens in Tech Conference was held Tuesday, May 12, 2008 and featured two main Teens in Tech employees, Daniel Brusilovsky, TITech President & CEO and Richard Escobedo, TITech COO. More after the jump.
Richard and Daniel both spoke on what they had planned for the future after the launch of Teens in Tech during the Teen Developers Segment. Here are their official headshots from the event:
Daniel took part in the Teen Entrepreneurs Panel as evidenced below, on the right:
Richard spoke as a keynote speaker, as one of the Profiles in Entrepreneurship of the conference. Here’s what blogger DJ Cline had to say about Richard’s Profile:
“Richard Escobedo of Teens in Tech spoke about his interest in entrepreneurship from age of seven until his present age of fourteen. He learned to be resourceful, seek help when necessary and to persevere. He started a podcast for teens and uses Twitter, WordPress, Apple and Final Cut Express video. Beyond technology he plays football and the violin.”
Richard focused his Profile on the hardships and limits that affected him in his development as a Teen Entrepreneur.
Richard spoke about how rejection was a force that hit him hard, and hit him often. He used the sting of rejection in order to become more passionate about his craft, to become more persevering, and in order to thrive and become successful. Richard spoke about how rejection led to mistakes and failures which he found common among all entrepreneurs and that he found it crucial one admit to said mistakes and failures. He also spoke about the value of connections and associates in entrepreneurship.
Richard also spoke on how being a teenager resulted in having a limited income and consequently, limited resources. Richard elaborated on how he was able to get past this roadblock by using what was available (school’s equipment in his case) to make the best quality material, instead of more material at a lesser quality. Also, being a teenager, school hours were not business hours. Richard was unable to check his email at school or answer phone calls during the day, so he had to resort to going the bathroom to use his cell phone to reply to everyone. He also played on his school’s football team, which limited his home time and therefore, his time to spend on business.
He spoke about how he found his age was a crutch to some, but he advised fellow teen entrepreneurs to deny the naysayers, take things in small amounts, and to listen to advice. He also emphasized the role of getting out and meeting people in person.