There are young entrepreneurs and then there’s Taylor Rosenthal. This 14 year old from Alabama, USA wants to change the world, one first aid kit at a time.
Rosenthal came up with the idea of First Aid dispensing vending machines, an idea that could help deal with medical emergencies near kids areas and even save lives. His startup RecMed, which he launched in 2015, has already been generating buzz. He’s raised $130,000 in angel investments and has already rejected a $30 million offer from a pharma giant to buy his idea.
RecMed started as an eighth-grade project when Rosenthal was one of 19 students in a Young Entrepreneurs Academy class. “Every time I’d travel for a baseball tournament in Alabama, I’d notice that kids would get hurt and parents couldn’t find a band-aid,” he told CNN money. “I wanted to solve that.”
The wonderkid presented his idea at the recently concluded startup conference TechCrunch Disrupt, New York, USA. He already has an order for a 100 units from the National Amusement Park Group and is in talks with several other big companies.
He worked on his idea, designed a prototype, and by December he’d filed for a patent. RecMed will make money by selling the machines, which cost $5,500 apiece, and through restocking fees for the supplies. Rosenthal said he’s also open to putting advertising on the machines. The first aid kits would cost the user $5-6 apiece.
When asked how it’s like being a CEO at 14? Taylor says that “It’s hard to balance it with school. Also, some people don’t take you seriously. But I have another idea which I shall not reveal yet.”
Rosenthal is the youngest CEO at Round House, a startup incubator in Alabama, where he has an office and access to mentors in exchange for a 20% stake and a $50,000 investment.
While other kids his age may remember most of their childhood as period of games and getting hurt while playing them, Taylor here would be the kid that spent his young years solving it.