2 BILLION UNDER 20

Stacey Ferreira and Jared Kleinert, two young tech entrepreneurs who met at a Thiel Fellowship Summit, bring together stories of their equally impressive peers from around the world who are inspiring innovation, creative thinking, and dynamic exchange of ideas. The book is one building block of the “2 Billion Under 20” movement, as Stacey and Jared have launched an online community where aspiring young innovators can network and build funding for their own projects: http://2billionunder20.com/

With 75 international contributors and a foreword by Blake Masters (co-author with Peter Thiel of From Zero to One), the stories guide the readers through 5 sections: START: identifying their passions; RISK: taking the required first steps in accomplishing their own personal goals; JOURNEY: handling adversities that will come their way; LEARN: gaining experience and expertise from everything they do; and ultimately SUCCEED: what it takes to get to the goal. The gifted contributors represent a wide range of fields, including sports, acting, art, tech, science, dance, music, and activism. They include Jack Andraka, a scientific innovator in cancer testing; Paige McKenzie, a YouTube star; an Australian tennis prodigy and a table tennis Olympian; a Disney teen actor; a female teen race car champion; war survivors from Sierra Leone and Sudan; a Moroccan activist for small farmers; a Ghanaian leader of clean water initiative. All under the age of 20. Each voice shares a unique perspective about the path to innovation. A teen entrepreneur in Alaska writes about almost failing his pre-calculus class while he was building his company with partners around the world. A young scientist explains how she overcame the need for perfection in school in order to take risks and find breakthroughs in her project on water purification. An Indian tech entrepreneur had to confront disappointing her parents when she dropped out of law school to pursue a different path. A Chinese programmer had to figure out how to communicate his ideas in order to launch his product successfully. The “2 Billion Under 20” movement is building a network of inspiration and resources for teen visionaries. Some of these innovators are connected through TED talks and through the renowned fellowship program created by Peter Thiel, entrepreneur and co-founder of PayPal; others were selected for Draper University, an experimental school for innovators launched by Tim Draper famed Silicon Valley venture capitalist. These impressive stories will spark interest and conversation worldwide—for young people, and also those who are not under 20 but want to understand the positive impact of this generation. Stacey and Jared are open to hearing ideas from foreign publishers about customizing the project for local markets. They are discussing special sales to corporate seminars (Coca-Cola has publicized the project), as well as exciting, creative possibilities in marketing. JARED KLEINERT is now 18, but started an edtech startup at 15, and at 16, he founded Synergist, dubbing him the "Definition of a Social Entrepreneur" by Forbes. He came up with the idea for 2 Billion Under 20 at the 2012 Under 20 Summit in NYC where he also met Stacey. STACEY FERREIRA is a 21 year old tech entrepreneur, the co-founder of MySocialCloud.com. After selling to Reputation.com in 2013, she started AdMoar and recently co-founded www.2BillionUnder20.com with Jared.