There’s an epidemic. Hotshot high schoolers and young adults are trying to reboot The Social Network, aiming to be the next Mark Zuckerberg by founding the next big startup or nonprofit with supposedly massive impact.
While some of these initiatives produce real results, the more profound truth is that many of these “ventures,” “passion projects” or “nonprofits” won’t survive past the next admissions cycle, and their impact rarely extends beyond the initial burst of activity.
“I created a non-profit organization, Mission Charms, where we made different necklaces, bracelets with manufacturers in China and India, and then we’d sell them and then donate all the proceeds,” senior Justin Stockstill said. “We did raise a lot of money, but I think the core reason for starting it was to be able to put it on my resume. So it always felt like I was just pushing to finish because of that.”
According to CB Insights, Nearly 42% of startups collapse because they create products nobody wants or needs. This reflects a broader trend: building a business for its own sake, without validating the audience or the actual need, making failure inevitable.
Former Trinity student Kush Mathow, embodies the spirit of authentic and successful startup culture. He earned around hundreds of thousands of dollars trading stocks during the pandemic and later built multiple companies with high-figure valuations. Mathow reflects on why so many ideas fall apart.
“You can have any product, but if you can’t market it, you’re not going to amass any sort of impact merely from having that idea,” Mathow said. “This superficial approach to the market and not being able to bring the product to people’s needs and market it correctly, you will have a lot of trouble.”
On the other hand, students can create real initiatives to improve their community and build a real business in the process. Trinity alumnus ‘24, Emmanuel Gostomelsky created TeenTrust in his junior year, connecting high schoolers in his community with jobs in tutoring, car detailing and pressure washing. He ultimately had to drop the business because the realities of college life became too much to juggle …
“For me, there was always demand in what my business was doing, and I think the only reason it failed was purely because I really just didn’t have the time anymore as I was transferring into UF and away from my client base … especially in a startup, it’s all or nothing,” Gostomelsky said. “If you’re not 100% into it, then it’s bound to fail.”
High schoolers fueled by competitive application seasons fosters a culture of appearance over actual influence and genuine passion. In this, the value of the project becomes not what actually benefits society or the given area but rather what would look best on a LinkedIn experience page.
“I’ve realized over my time in high school that so many people don’t do things for genuine enrichment anymore: they do them to polish a résumé,” Stockstill said. “There are activities I truly love, like cross country and forensics, but honestly, a lot of the other things I do are just there so I can say I did them for four years. That’s become the standard for extracurriculars. It’s less about enjoying the activity and more about how it looks on paper.”
Mathow sees his success as something that came from his background and a true passion for entrepreneurship and creating lasting impact not only for himself but for his community.
“For me, it was never really about the money, “ Mathow said. “(I had a true) love of the game. I grew up around an entrepreneurial dad who that shaped everything about the way I build companies today. My long-term purpose of always looking to create sometging is what separates those who stick it out from those who quit.
From the early origins of Silicon Valley and tech company icons, building a business was built on integrity and a genuine interest in grinding the company to mass popularity and impact. Amazon Founder, Jeff Bezos said, in a 2019 George W. Bush Presidential Center’s Forum on Leadership, that “One of the huge mistakes people make is that they try to force an interest in themselves. You don’t choose your passions, your passions choose you.” For some high school students, this may very well be the case. Passion projects, nonprofits and startups that take up a spot on an activity list are bound to be abandoned and have no real weight in society.
“I think a lot of people like the idea of having a business, and that’s the extent of it,” Mathow said. “They like how it looks, they like being able to say they’re ‘building something,’ but when it comes down to actually doing it, putting in the hours, and sticking through the parts that aren’t fun or glamorous, most people tap out. Ideas sound cool until you start doing them and realize how much time, consistency, and real effort it actually takes.”
