Olive92 Studios was a design agency that my brother (Sid) and I launched when I was 16 years old.
I chose to homeschool myself in high school in order to run and scale this business. This was my first company, and this is where I cut my teeth in terms of design chops—learning the ins and outs of being a designer.
In the span of 2 years, Sid and I tackled 100+ design projects. We found a niche within the 99Designs community, where we would compete against 500,000+ other designers to win design contracts.
This brutal competition forced us to get good, quickly. We were able to understand what customers were looking for without too much input, and learned to hone our craft with speed and quality.
To this day, I still carry the work ethic, agency, and grit that this venture taught me. It laid the foundation for my life and work as a founder.