Generation Next
Rishi Bhat, 18
Article Contents
- Generation Next
- Shazad Mohamed, 15
- Kayla Stewart, 19
- Stephen R. Gordon, 18
- Chris Delany, 19
- Rishi Bhat, 18
- David Marks, 18
- Devin Lazerine, 18
- Ashley Powers, 17
- Michael Podraza, 16
- Elise & Evan Macmillan, 14 & 16
- Win, Win, Win
SiegeSoft &
myEdesk.com
For someone who has started and sold two successful businesses, is
taking computer science courses and starred in the movie The
Indian in the Cupboard, Rishi Bhat is pretty down-to-earth. The
18-year-old chuckles when asked if he considers himself a genius,
but how else can you describe someone who read software manuals as
bedtime stories when he was 6 and sold his first company at age 16,
in a deal worth $1.6 million?  Recognizing the need to protect privacy on the Internet,
Bhat wrote the Internet privacy software that was to become
SiegeSoft when he was 15 and had a little free time because a math
class he'd planned on taking was canceled. It wasn't long
before he was talking to an investor, Dave Hodge, who decided to
purchase SiegeSoft. Not satisfied to rest on his laurels, the
intrepid teen and his friend Chaitanya Mehra set to work on company
No. 2, myEdesk.com, a program that allows you to access your
desktop via any Web browser. Surprise, surprise: A casual
conversation between Bhat and Hodge led the investor to buy
myEdesk.com as well in 2000.
Now a high school senior, Bhat, who lives in Chicago, hopes to
attend MIT in the fall and major in computer science and
bioengineering. On the prospects of becoming an entrepreneur again,
Bhat says: "All this stuff is just like me doing what I like
to do. I mean, eventually I do want to be an entrepreneur
[again]—I can't see myself working for anyone else."
—Gisela M. Pedroza | Granted,
You'll Succeed | Content Continues Below
If anyone specializes in youth development and entrepreneurship,
it's the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Created in the
mid-1960s by entrepreneur, major league baseball team owner and
philanthropist Ewing Marion Kauffman, the foundation is all about
fostering entrepreneurship within communities via grant programs
and educational outreach. The foundation's entrepreneurship Web
site, www.entreworld.org, provides more information about available
programs and resources. For details on the foundation's grant
programs, visit www.emkf.org or e-mail info@emkf.org.
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