Meet Jaylen Bledsoe : Black teen who built IT company worth $3.5 million

While kids his age were playing video games, Jaylen Bledsoe was building his future with technology. The 15-year-old built an IT company that is now worth $3.5 million.

Very few entrepreneurs can say they’ve grown their business into a multi-million dollar enterprise within a few years, and doing so before graduating high school.

Jaylen Bledsoe of Hazelwood, Mo started his own tech company that specializes in web design and other IT services, Bledsoe Technologies, when he was just 13-year-old. He spent two years building the company into a multi-million dollar business. Bledsoe has grown his company from two workers to about 150 contracted employees in order to meet demand.

Jaylen said an interest in web design, which he first discovered while attending classes at his school’s gifted-education program, was the foundation for his business. But he says it’s taken a lot of hard work and courage, too.

His most important advice for young entrepreneurs? “Take risks,” Bledsoe, who plans to attend Harvard University before becoming a copyright lawyer, told Fox 2.

“As a minor, there’s nothing you can do that will shoot you. Keep you down for too long. You can always jump back up and keep going.”