His office is in his family’s Spring Garden Township home. He squeezes in business appointments between school and track practice. And his mom drives him to client meetings at the local Starbucks.
Meet Nick Pitoniak, entrepreneur, age 16.
At an age when most kids are busy text messaging their BFFs or hanging out at the mall, Pitoniak, a sophomore at York Suburban High School, is building a web-design business.
The teenager has already snagged a few clients and launched a website for his company, Limeband Coding.
“I’ve always had a fascination with computers,” said Pitoniak, who taught himself computer code writing when he was 13. “Code controls the world and if you know the code, you can do anything.”
Pitoniak launched Limeband Coding in March. The name comes from the color of the headband Pitoniak wears during track and cross-country meets. It’s his good luck charm.
Limeband Coding isn’t Pitoniak’s first for-profit venture. He and his brother Bob started a lawn-care business in their neighborhood when Nick was 7 and Bob was 9.
The latest venture comes doesn’t come as a surprise to Pitoniak’s mother.
“Nick has always been an analytical thinker,” said Stephanie Pitoniak, an English teacher at Northeastern High School.
There have always been kids who run their own small businesses. Think lemonade stands and baby-sitters. Nationwide, 381,000 people under the age of 25 were self-employed in 2012, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy.
The popularity of TV’s “Shark Tank,” in which startup business owners pitch their products to a team of celebrity judges, has spurred a whole new generation of budding moguls, said Jay Azriel, who directs a program at York College for high school-age entrepreneurs.
“Being an entrepreneur is kind of cool these days,” said Azriel, an associate professor of entrepreneurship.
Young would-be business owners have plenty of role models their own age to which they can turn for inspiration.
Nick D’Aloisio founded Summly, a smartphone application for organizing news stories, when he was 15. He sold the company to search engine giant Yahoo in 2013 for $30 million.
Moziah Bridges started a business making and selling bow ties when the Memphis, Tenn. preteen was 9 years old. Bridges has appeared on “Shark Tank,” been interviewed on the “Today” show and mentioned in Oprah Winfrey’s O Magazine.
And York Suburban High School is the alma mater of Evan Sharp, a founder of Pinterest, a popular social media website that allows users to post photos of their favorite items.
Despite some high-profile success stories, most young entrepreneurs face a major hurdle in getting adult customers to take them seriously, said Azriel, the York College professor.
Pitoniak’s fee for designing websites starts at $299. He recently lowered it from $399. But he realized he needed to discount his services further to convince skeptical adults he could handle the work.
He struck a deal with Lori Rhinehart to design a website for Rhinehart’s Lori’s Loop charity 5k run in exchange for her waiving the $20 entrance fee.
“He did a fabulous job,” Rhinehart said. “It wasn’t like I was dealing with a kid. He was every bit the professional.”
Anthony Billet, Pitoniak’s track coach, said the budding entrepreneur asks him lots of questions about marketing and how to get clients.
“You can just tell he has a drive within him that other kids don’t,” said Billet, the president of abSketches, a York architectural renderings firm. “He’s constantly thinking about every aspect of his business.”
Pitoniak plans to either enlist in the Navy or Air Force to learn more about computer programming or attend college to study computer science. He’s got his eye on Drexel University in Philadelphia.
He counts Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Aaron Swartz, the late co-founder of the news website Reddit, and Steve Jobs among his influences.
Pitoniak read a recent biography of the late Apple co-founder and came away impressed.
“It really inspired me that if you do what you love, and work hard enough, anything is possible,” he said.
Want to start your own business? Here are some tips
Tom Russell, president of Junior Achievement of South Central PA, offers the following tips for teens who want to start their own business.
• Begin with an idea you are passionate about, something that stems from a hobby or interest.
• Be prepared to spend 15 to 20 hours a week your business. If you’re launching a business just because you think it looks good on a college application, this is not thing for you.
• Print business cards to distribute to help publicize the business.
• Have a professional-looking website, including a professional-sounding email address.
• Use social media sites including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest to promote your business.
“You can do a lot of promotion of your business for free,” Russell said.
• Draft a mission statement capturing in a few words what your company does and what your goals are. That will help keep you on track.
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