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A UX designer is expressing regrets over ignoring a 16-year-old's startup idea after it received $2 million in support. The worker posted the story to Reddit, saying they didn't take the teen's "business idea seriously enough" and missed out on the potentially major opportunity.
The post was shared to the subreddit "Tifu," or Today I F***ed up on February 1 by u/CaptainIncompetent33. The post, which is captioned, "TIFU by not taking a teenager's business idea seriously enough," has already received over 22,000 upvotes, and viewers have shared a range of opinions about the situation. One says to apologize "for not taking it seriously and say that you're glad he didn't let that deter him from forging his own path to success," while another said, "That's the right call almost every time."
The original poster (OP) revealed they were contacted by a 16-year-old teenager via LinkedIn with a business idea that he wanted the OP to work with him on. The poster "assumed" it would be a "for free until funding" type of situation.
The OP continued, "I thought it was weird to be randomly contacted, but the foundations of his idea I thought were really solid and had growth potential, so I organized a call to discuss details, etc."
The Redditor revealed the teen wasn't able to make the call, and when he tried to reschedule with the OP, the message "just slipped through" their "inbox unread for a while."
"After all, it was just a young guy with big dreams, how many guys are out there saying they've got the next big startup idea?" the OP continued. "So a week goes past and I forget about rescheduling, and then a month goes past and I forget about the idea altogether."
A year later and the OP sees the teenager's company "in the news receiving over $2 million in venture capital funding." The Redditor concluded: "Didn't take 16-year-old with startup idea seriously, missed out on a good growth opportunity."
According to Statista, the number of business establishments that were less than one year old in startup phases in the country in 2020 equated to 804,398. That number has increased from the previous year with 770,609 businesses in 2019.
When asked by a user what the teen's idea was, the OP revealed, "It was an add-on that could be sold to e-commerce sites for lower churn rates at checkout."
Viewers shared a variety of responses to the post.
One viewer thinks the OP should contact the teenager now. "Follow-up and re-engage," they said. "Now his company has some seed capital; I'll bet they still have UX problems to solve and new projects that need design. You can land a gig and have your choice of cash, equity, or likely a little of both."
The Redditor who said it was "the right call" added that "$2 million in funding means he's just getting started, you haven't missed anything yet. At that stage, he's still 90% likely to fail instead of 99% likely to fail."
Another also thinks the OP made the right call, telling them, "You did the right thing not working for free."
Some Redditors tend to agree with this. "This isn't a f**k up at all," someone pointed out. "Don't work for free."
One viewer told the OP they wouldn't have seen any of that money. "The kid made the money, not anyone who 'worked' for him," they reasoned.
A Redditor joked about the whole thing: "Little Jimmy in his bedroom right now thumbing money and you out here upset on Reddit that's a crazy ratio."
A Redditor tried comforting the OP, saying, "If it makes you feel any better, there are a lot of $2 million funded companies out there. It's still a big milestone, but is no means a guarantee of success."
Another thinks the OP should cheer the teen "on the sidelines," adding, "You could have been part of his driving force to prove himself. An unrecognized stepping stone. In a way, you may have helped the kid along."
One user didn't hold back their feelings, telling the OP "that's what you get. Younger people are so overlooked by old heads."
Newsweek reached out to u/CaptainIncompetent33 for comment, who said: "I'm a little overwhelmed. I was just reflecting on my bad memory, and didn't intend for such a large response. I wish the founders of the company the best of luck of course!"
Update 2/4/2022 2:33 p.m. ET: This story has been updated to include a comment from u/CaptainIncompetent33.
