18 year old Entefy co-founder Brienne Ghafourifar raises $1 million in funding for startup based in Palo Alto.
By Insiyah Saeed (Founder, TheLipGloss)
Brienne Ghafourifar, 18, and co-founder brother Alston, 20, are not targeting a market of billions with their startup Entefy, but a “market of trillions.”
Brienne, who graduated with a B.A. in Economics from Santa Clara University, said it has taken a year to reach this momentum; but things have moved very, very fast. She and her team closed on funding commitments from private angels last week.
“It was hard for sure, but it’s been the most valuable experience of my life,” she said.
Brienne went through an accelerated program at high school, as well studying business and economics in college. But she and her brother credit their risk-taking abilities to their entrepreneurial parents, who possess a line of successful ventures in tech, health and film and other areas.
“My parents would always involve us in their business; it kind of became a family hobby to go to Peet’s Coffee and talk about business ideas,“ she explains.
Their product, Entefy aims to “democratize access to resources and opportunity” and allow the user to have their entire digital life in one ecosystem.
A beta launch is planned in 6 to 8 months, and at the moment, they are hiring.
Brienne believes one does not need a tech background to succeed in a startup, and age shouldn’t matter when attracting top talent to work on your idea.
She says great people will join when they see “what it is your doing, why you’re doing it, and the people that are (already) with you.”
Women 2.0 readers: Have you raised funds from F&F? What went well and what didn’t? Let us know in the comments
About the guest blogger: Insiyah Saeed is a freelance writer and founder of TheLipGloss, an upcoming product discovery site for women. She loves to write about serial and offbeat entrepreneurs. She is a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism. Email her at insiyahss [a] gmail dot com.