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Steven Schwartz was just 13 years old when he started his first side hustle. Like many teenage boys his age, he wanted a pair of sneakers\u2014the Nike<\/a> Kobe 7 Easter shoe, to be exact\u2014but his parents wouldn\u2019t pay for them.<\/p>\n Instead of stomping his foot in protest, he found a like-minded teen on Facebook<\/a>, Cameron Zoub, to help him build a bot which would buy limited-edition sneakers for people before they sell out.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe basically spent the next eight years building a ton of different products,\u201d Schwartz tells Fortune<\/em>. \u201cWe built marketplaces, we built consumer apps, we built games, we built social networks, we built SAS companies, people agencies and we did pretty well.\u201d<\/p>\n Now in their mid 20\u2019s\u2014and at least 22 side hustles later\u2014Schwartz, Zoub and a third co-founder Jack Sharkey are running Whop, a marketplace for digital entrepreneurs. Think Etsy<\/a> meets LinkedIn<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to Schwartz, the platform, which launched in 2021, is currently valued at around a quarter of a billion dollars and processes around $400 million a year in transactions.<\/p>\n For those old enough to remember dial-up internet, it\u2019s hard to imagine building businesses online and moonlighting as a tech boss after school hours.\u00a0<\/p>\n But for the generation that grew up playing on a smartphone instead of in the playground, turning one\u2019s hand to entrepreneurship isn\u2019t so far-fetched.<\/p>\n In fact, the second fastest-growing job title amongst Gen Z grads right now is \u201cfounder\u201d, according to LinkedIn.<\/p>\n \u201cMy generation don\u2019t want to go work a consulting or banking job. They don\u2019t even want to be an astronaut anymore. They want to make content online, they want to find customers online and they want to find friends online because the internet is so powerful,\u201d Schwartz says.<\/p>\n \u201cBeing educated with more information about what people can do, why would they want to do something that isn\u2019t the most elite experience and the most fun for them?\u201d<\/p>\n It isn\u2019t just Gen Z who have embraced the be-your-own-boss hype. <\/p>\n Being able to work where and when you wanted during the pandemic awakened the entrepreneur in many people\u2014and it didn\u2019t go unnoticed by Schwartz.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cEvery single person in the world wanted to have a side hustle,\u201d he adds. \u201cThey didn\u2019t really want to work a nine-to-five job anymore, they wanted to do something that they were more passionate about.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The only problem? Many didn\u2019t have anywhere to connect with customers.<\/p>\n For those who took up pottery or painting in their free time, they could sell their work on Etsy. <\/p>\n But when Schwartz spotted \u201chundreds of thousands of people\u201d trying to buy and sell software on Redditt, he knew a gap in the market could be plugged.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe saw that as a great opportunity for us to build something that can help streamline the process and make sure that more people are able to participate in this marketplace\u2014at the time, there was no element of customer support, no reviews, no streamlined payments.\u201d<\/p>\n Now, he says 4 million people a month are turning to Whop to tap their inner Jeff Bezos.<\/p>\n Having launched at least 22 side hustles\u2014from a disappearing chat tool like Snapchat<\/a> before Snapchat existed to a hamburger delivery service at college\u2014before finding success with Whop, Schwartz has some words of wisdom to those looking to make the leap into entrepreneurialism: Just do it.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe learned that failure is kind of implied,\u201d the Gen Zer says. \u201cSome of them are going to hit and some of them aren\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n As tiring as it sounds, Schwartz frames it simply as a matter of picking yourself and trying again. Indeed, Whop wouldn\u2019t exist if Schwartz gave up on venture number 5 and got an office job.\u00a0<\/p>\n Schwartz\u2019s main lesson? Just don\u2019t let the fear of failure hold you back from starting at all.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe biggest learning is you have to just start a business if you want to. You can\u2019t be successful in business, if you\u2019re not starting a business. That\u2019s step one,\u201d Schwartz laughs. \u201cSo I think just doing it is a huge thing and not really worrying about, \u2018what if this doesn\u2019t work?\u2019 Because like, what if it does work?\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s not only remote freelancers who are buying into Schwartz\u2019s vision. <\/p>\n In its latest round of funding earlier this month, Whop raised $18 million<\/a>. <\/p>\n But it wasn\u2019t until the digital marketplace had around 1,000 monthly users making around $1,000 a month that investors started to take notice, Schwartz says.<\/p>\n\n22 side hustles in the making<\/h2>\n
Mentorship with Tinder\u2019s cofounder and backing from Peter Thiel<\/h2>\n