How old should you be to be a CEO?

The median age for a CEO is 55 years. That doesn't mean you have to be 55 years old though. There's a 10-year-old CEO who founded a cookie business. Great question!

I want to create my own business for everything, art super low prices. I also want to create my own gaming company to create games. How would I do this?

OK.... i have been studying entrepreneurship since i was 10. I'm now 17. One of the key things I have learned that most successful businesses have what is called a business plan. A business plan helps, but only if you act on it. If you don't follow through with your business plan, the plan is useless. Also usually for a video game company, you use whats called an engine. That's what you use to code a game. that usually costs money. This is when start up capital comes in. tart up capital is the money that you have to start with. Then if you want to have some friends in the company too, you have to decide if you are going to pay them or have them be founders with you. being a founder means that you have a lot, if not all of the say in what happens in the company. if there are 2 founders, then each person has equal say, which means if you want to do something with the company and your friend doesn't, then both of you cant do anything that either wanted and it stays the same. ok im done going into the technical stuff, so i'm just gonna give you some advice, talk to a local handy man or plumber and ask how they started their business. that will give you a good idea

There's a really annoying bug that won't let me replay the video and it's happening on other videos that I'd like to replay too. Could you please fix it? Thanks

When you post a help request here, only other learners see it. Try putting this same request at https://support.khanacademy.org/hc/en-us That's the place where help can be found.

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Course: Careers > Unit 4

Lesson 8: Startup co-founder and CEO

Startup co-founder and CEO: What I do and how much I make

Name: Startup co-founder and CEO: What I do and how much I make
Uploaded: 2017-08-08T19:59:36Z
Description: Jon Mattingly, CEO and Co-Founder of Kodable, shares his journey of starting a company that teaches computer science to kids worldwide. He juggles multiple roles, from programming to HR, ensuring the company's growth. Despite working long hours, he only takes a salary that covers his needs, reinvesting the rest back into the company.

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Jon Mattingly, CEO and Co-Founder of Kodable, shares his journey of starting a company that teaches computer science to kids worldwide. He juggles multiple roles, from programming to HR, ensuring the company's growth. Despite working long hours, he only takes a salary that covers his needs, reinvesting the rest back into the company.

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Yash Permalla
Posted 6 years ago. Direct link to Yash Permalla's post “How old should you be to ...”
How old should you be to be a CEO?
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(14 votes)
Answer
- Admiral Betasin
  Posted 6 years ago. Direct link to Admiral Betasin's post “The median age for a CEO ...”
  The median age for a CEO is 55 years. That doesn't mean you have to be 55 years old though.
  There's a 10-year-old CEO who founded a cookie business.
  
  Great question!
  Comment on Admiral Betasin's post “The median age for a CEO ...”
  (15 votes)
Zulkiers
Posted 6 years ago. Direct link to Zulkiers's post “I want to create my own b...”
I want to create my own business for everything, art super low prices.
I also want to create my own gaming company to create games.
How would I do this?
Button navigates to signup pageButton navigates to signup page
(4 votes)
Answer
- wendell barnes
  Posted 5 years ago. Direct link to wendell barnes's post “OK.... i have been studyi...”
  OK.... i have been studying entrepreneurship since i was 10. I'm now 17. One of the key things I have learned that most successful businesses have what is called a business plan. A business plan helps, but only if you act on it. If you don't follow through with your business plan, the plan is useless. Also usually for a video game company, you use whats called an engine. That's what you use to code a game. that usually costs money. This is when start up capital comes in. tart up capital is the money that you have to start with. Then if you want to have some friends in the company too, you have to decide if you are going to pay them or have them be founders with you. being a founder means that you have a lot, if not all of the say in what happens in the company. if there are 2 founders, then each person has equal say, which means if you want to do something with the company and your friend doesn't, then both of you cant do anything that either wanted and it stays the same. ok im done going into the technical stuff, so i'm just gonna give you some advice, talk to a local handy man or plumber and ask how they started their business. that will give you a good idea
  Comment on wendell barnes's post “OK.... i have been studyi...”
  (8 votes)
22mwanzer
Posted 6 years ago. Direct link to 22mwanzer's post “I am 13 years old and I a...”
I am 13 years old and I am wanting to start and own a company I have designed trucks for on the road and a logo but how do I do it?
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(5 votes)
Answer
damon
Posted 4 years ago. Direct link to damon's post “I'm a CEO for my sweet co...”
I'm a CEO for my sweet corn business
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(3 votes)
Answer
Neftali Zapata
Posted 3 years ago. Direct link to Neftali Zapata's post “i want to be start a tech...”
i want to be start a tech business like apple but how should i do it
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(3 votes)
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HAMIDU ALIMAMY KAMARA
Posted 6 years ago. Direct link to HAMIDU ALIMAMY KAMARA's post “How do you discovered Kod...”
How do you discovered Kodable
Button navigates to signup pageComment on HAMIDU ALIMAMY KAMARA's post “How do you discovered Kod...”
(3 votes)
Answer
aviva.frankenthal
Posted 4 months ago. Direct link to aviva.frankenthal's post “There's a really annoying...”
There's a really annoying bug that won't let me replay the video and it's happening on other videos that I'd like to replay too. Could you please fix it? Thanks
Button navigates to signup pageButton navigates to signup page
(1 vote)
Answer
- David Alexander
  Posted 4 months ago. Direct link to David Alexander's post “When you post a help requ...”
  When you post a help request here, only other learners see it. Try putting this same request at https://support.khanacademy.org/hc/en-us That's the place where help can be found.
  Comment on David Alexander's post “When you post a help requ...”
  (2 votes)
aviva.frankenthal
Posted 4 months ago. Direct link to aviva.frankenthal's post “Jon Mattingly- HI! I'm an...”
Jon Mattingly- HI! I'm an aspiring entrupenuer, and I'm looking for some tips. Do you think you could give me some? I want to make a large business. And they can even be like, these are great investors, or I recommend using this platform to build your website.
Button navigates to signup pageComment on aviva.frankenthal's post “Jon Mattingly- HI! I'm an...”
(1 vote)
Answer

Video transcript

My name's Jon Mattingly. I'm CEO and Co-Founder of Kodable. I am 26 years old and I make $75,000 a year. So Kodable is a startup. We're located in Sunnyvale, California in the middle of Silicon Valley. We have a programming curriculum for elementary schools. We start kids in kindergarten. We teach them basic programming logic and by the time they're done with fifth grade they can learn JavaScript. So our mission at Kodable is to teach every student in the world about computer science, not just in the United States but all over the world. We've been used by a little over half of the elementary schools in the US already. We're used in over 180 countries around the world. So I'm the CEO and Co-Founder. That means that one, I was crazy enough to start my own company, and two, I run the day-to-day aspects of the company as well. So I'm a Technical CEO, meaning that I can program as well as run the company. A lot of what I do is work on our product. I built the first version of everything that we have now. I don't work as much on it anymore but I work on our website, our backend servers, I might work on our game or our teacher dashboard programming-wise. I also run our HR, do some of our marketing, our support, I answer support questions from teachers daily, email, a lot of different things. The CEO's biggest job at any stage is to make sure the company is moving in the right direction. When you're a smaller company like we are you do a lot more of the grunt work, you do a little bit of everything, but as you get bigger it's your job to really understand the big picture, so understand where the company is moving and then you've got all of these different pieces that you need to make sure are all working in harmony to push in that direction. The time I actively spend focusing on my startup, probably about 12 hours a day. So right now I make $75,000 a year. For the first few years at Kodable I actually didn't take a salary. That's pretty common. The time length that it takes to not take a salary is different depending on the company, but I didn't take a salary for a while. When we were able to raise some money from investors I was able to take enough. I pretty much decide what my salary is, and my theory behind this is that I need to pay myself enough so that I can pay all my bills, pay my expenses, not worry about money, not be worrying about how I'm gonna make rent next month, but other than that anything over that needs to go back to the company.