A high school senior started SurfYourWork.com as a school project and sold it for $1.25 million a few years later.<\/p>\n
From Missouri Conservative [no longer available]:<\/p>\n
\nAdil Lalani was still in high school when he conceived the idea for SurfYourWork.com, a free, web-based school management system that lets teachers and administrators post assignments and other documents online for students and parents to view and download. Now, little more than a year later, a New York-based educational software provider has purchased the product, prompting schools across the country to take a serious look at this one-time classroom project--while reportedly making Lalani, 19, a millionaire in the process.<\/p>\n
The company--Jasmine Technologies Inc.--reportedly offered Lalani, who currently is enrolled at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, $1.25 million in cash and stock for his fledgling, one-man technology outfit. Jasmine, which helps U.S. schools meet the demands of the No Child Left Behind Act with technological solutions designed to increase student-teacher interaction and include more parents in their children's education, also took Lalani on as full-time employee, promising him a place to continue his pursuit of a career in computer engineering when he graduates.<\/p>\n
Lalani, who first resisted taking his product into the commercial space, said he agreed to the deal after realizing the difficulties inherent in trying to run a start-up technology firm from his dorm room.<\/p>\n
\"The money helped,\" said Lalani in a recent interview with eSchool News. But mainly, it was the challenge of maintaining his grades. \"I didn't want to see this turn into a disaster,\" he said. \"The [product] was taking up a lot of time ... I still had to worry about my marks.\"<\/p>\n
Through an agreement with his university, Lalani will go to school part time over the next four months, devoting the majority of his days--at least 40 hours a week--to Jasmine's acquisition and continued development of SurfYourWork.com. He then plans to head back to school and finish up his degree before returning to Jasmine to work on the product full time. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Not bad if you can get it...<\/p>\n
Update:<\/b> The domain surfyourwork.com doesn't exist any more.<\/p>\n