“My name’s Scott. I’m 13 and have launched a web startup.” So began an email exchange over last weekend which culminated with me chatting to Scott’s mum today to verify, that, indeed, he was actually 13 and really had launched a blogging site for people in Scotland.
ScotBlog.net is essentially a social network for people in Scotland and anyone of Scottish heritage. Based on a group Wordpress blog, users can create a profile, join user created groups, send private messages, add friends and blog. Scott says: “We have some users in Glasgow, while we have some from South Carolina and even California”.
The point about this story is that not only has this teenager gone and created ScottBlog, but he had the get-up-and-go to find out who writes about startups, write a press release and email them. He’s even put himself on CrunchBase. A lot of older people than haven’t done that much.
Scott lives with his mum, Susan Campbell, who confirmed to me today that he is who he says he is, but he couldn’t come to phone today as he’s at school.
I used the opportunity to ask Susan about how she feels about the recent debate about government plans to give cinema-ratings to web sites in an attempt to protect kids when they are online. She said she doesn’t worry about him as he’s “very sensible”, but she thinks there is a role for schools in educating children about safe web use, rather than a top-down approach from government. Indeed, it’s not Scott’s mum who is doing the educating about the Web, it’s Scott. In 2006, he was a runner up in the BT Internet Rangers competition, where he won a laptop for helping his family with the Internet.
Ok, now I’ll admit, if a 13 year-old can launch a startup then the barrier to entry may be a lot lower than we thought! And I daresay ScotBlog has a ways to go in finding a business model beyond advertising, and admittedly he has no startup costs – these are paid by his mum! However, It’s great to see Scott show this kind of initiative and I think it’s worth-while encouraging teenagers in the UK to be more entrepreneurial.
The point about this story is that not only has this teenager gone and created ScottBlog
ScotBlog (one tee:)
This is probably the least impressive thing I’ve ever read.
Congratulations, Scott!
That’s awesome news and quite an accomplishment to be proud of. I really hope it all goes well. I’m sure we’ll be seeing more from you
Congratulations Scott – a great achievement for you and I hope that you site grows and grows.
You should be very proud.
Fantastic for him. I started my first enterprise around the same age, called STPUG (ST Postal User Group) it was a group for Atari ST owners … yes long before the Internet went mainstream – this was Prestel and BBS times! But it did atleast have a revenue stream at launch, which is more than I can say for some of my other startups since
So, hats off to young Scott – I just hope his parents give him all the backing an encouragement he deserves (which it sounds like they are).
This is Wonderful! Scott is an inspiration to us all. I hope he gets some funding for his project and I’ll be looking for more great things from him.
This is brilliant. I love the idea of kids being this pro-active and starting their own stuff, but he’s just a kid… shouldn’t he be doing kid stuff?
It’s impressive, but I can’t help thinking he’s growing up too fast.
My eyes fill with tears..
Congratulations body!
Great job, Scott! I’m 39 and I can’t seem to launch my way out of a wet paper bag. Hehe and
Um, please tell me how this is different from just getting a hosted blog at WordPress.com, apart from being targeted towards people in Scotland?
Not to be a sour puss or anything, but this is just a WordPress MU installation, which isn’t that hard to get up and running – I give it 30 minutes tops.
Anyway, I wish you all the best Scott.
It isn’t much difference really. I’ve set up a similar thing, for clubs and societies (www.thisclub.net), but I think that the idea of a 13 yr old setting this up, yet again, astonishes people (whether that’s right or wrong).
Congrats Scott! I’m 16, and it’s very hard to get any project going whilst school, homework and girls are surrounding you at the same time!
So well done to Scott for getting this up and running, seems pretty cool and can’t wait for that next project you mentioned on Twitter.
Well done to the lad!
Great to see some entrepreneurship from someone so young. Keep it up fella.
(oh and great name
I’ve never met a stupid Scott 
)
Congrats!
@ Siany- What would you rather a 13 year old do? Hang on the street, play computer games, watch TV?
The fact this kid has chosen to start up his own social blogging site is, without question, inspirational. Good on him, he’ll go along way.
I just hope he doesn’t “do” an Alex Tew. Where the hell is he now?
It goes to show one great idea, executed at the right time, doesn’t make a great entrepreneur, but at 13, swing for the hills buddy…..
Alex created http://sockandawe.com last month, which received super hype and sold on ebay for £5000 in a week. He is soon launching a full blown startup http://popjam.com
Yup, I echo the comments – if nothing else it’s just great to see a teenager going against the popular image of teenagers these days and doing something constructive.
I launched Scotster, the photo sharing and social site for Scotland because, like Scott, noticed there was nothing to bring Scots around the world together. It’s good that more people are creating sites for Scotland!
Also, I think the media should report more on this kind of story; whether or not the product is good is beside the point, Scott is showing initiative.
Russell – Alex Tew is working on a new startup, in private beta. Watch TCUK.
As for Scott Campbell, I think it’s worth repeating:
He thought of it. Registered the domain. Setup up the site. Started marketing it. Wrote a release. Put himself on Crunchbase. Called me. He’s just 13.
Most startups run by adults only do one or two of those things.
Thanks Mike
.
Mike,
Thanks for this article!
Not only did he “He thought of it. Registered the domain. Setup up the site. Started marketing it. Wrote a release. Put himself on Crunchbase. Called me.” he also soliciated for investors in his company.
I am one.
Cheers!
Darn it! Where is the spellcheck? lol! Scratch the “a” in “solicited”!
Respect. I predict an online porn empire by 16.
I think this article is as much about other startups in the Uk as it is about this one.
I’ve got some bad news for you. That’s not a startup or even any kind of a business which is what I think you meant when you called it a “startup”. That’s a website powered by WordPress. The term “startup” is already pretty useless but if you open the idea up to include every person who creates a multi-user blog site then the word is really useless.
Oh and the negative comments are good. Part of playing with the adults is being treated like one and I’d imagine a good flaming will help him adapt to the world of startups quicker than the ‘well done lad’ comments. Not that those shouldn’t be in here too because he’s done well.
Anyway, if he gets scarred for life due to either a) praise which he suddenly stops getting once he’s past 16 or b) criticism, then we can blame Mike for reporting on it in the first place
“Scotblog ain’t just any old Social Blogging site, it is the first Social Blogging site.”
Probably needs to proof read and make “Social” “Scottish”. JMO.
Rob Safuto – That’s a pretty pathetic comment. A startup is something that starts up and sees if it can become a traditional business (with revenues etc). TechCrunch was “just a blog” until Mike Arrington noticed that it had enough potential to become a business. Craigslist started out as “just a bulletin board” built by Craig Newmark for his friends to advertise for free on. There are plenty more examples.
Listen, I don’t write about every group blog that appears, but when a 13 year old shows this much nouse, I think he deserves a little kudos. How else is entrepreneurial culture going to develop in this country if young entrepreneurs are not encouraged?
Fantastic to see you reporting this Mike – Scott has done a fantastic job at just 13.
People don’t realise just how difficult it is while in full time education, while surrounded by hundreds of people that may think what you’re doing is nerdy, while many around you are happy to waste days playing xBox, to actually achieve something like this.
Don’t look so much at the fact it’s “just a Wordpress blog” – look at what he’s done to promote it! Not many people even twice his age can claim a post on TechCrunch.
Nice work Scott – keep it up.
Have to agree that this is a wordpress powered site. Congrats on the Kid for doing it but seriously it wasnt worth posting about.
Dont call it a ’startup’ , please I beg of you since it isnt one.
Try reading this:
http://bit.ly/fWm6
-Scott.
Startup debate aside, this kid’s got some get up and go!
He mailed me to be featured on http://Techfluff.tv then, when i replied, text me and asked if he could add me to his contact book!
wow! now that’s “chutzpah”
What do you mean?
She’s saying you’ve got some balls kid.
final word from me: I can’t but get annoyed when tits like rob satufo make stupid, unintelligent, unhelpful comments.
Your missing the point pal. Scott is 13. Who gives a fuck if its on Wordpress or not. its the drive and ambition in young UK people Mike/TCUK is reporting on/championing.
And whats safuto ever done? A quick google search tells you. Fuck all.
Haha, thanks.
.
Well done mate!
Looking forward to some great things in the future from you.
Good for him, although I have a hard time calling it a startup since it currently is a wordpress blog, are the other million wordpress blogs startups? But you can tell the kid has the startup gene, already posting to CrunchBase?!?!?
So what does all this mean will someone please explain alittle ? OK i understand that this kid launched his own networking site but will he make money from it or what i’m trying to say is what is the purpose for this …?
so what?
i launched video games reviewing web site when i was 11 (went offline after few months).
also, i was running a free web hosting company when i was 15. i exited one year later. and i even made few $ out of that business.
ah, right, i didnt submit it to crunchbase. but.. did it exist 8 years ago?
i’m 19 now. hmm… time for another startup (once per 4 years)
That’s a bitter comment!
chkconfig httpd on
chkconfig mysqld on
wget http://wordpress.org/latest.tar.gz
tar xvf latest.tar.gz
cp * /var/www/html/shittyscotblog/
?????
profit.
good work!
Don’t you have to be an adult to register for a business ?
Congratulations to this boy.
I’m not sure if there’s an age limit when registering a company.
Good luck with ScotBlog
I wish my teenager would do something productive like that. All he does is sit there and AIM all freakin day
http://www.web-privacy.pro.tc
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_monkey_theorem
This article was pointless. A website != startup. It can’t even handle significant traffic.
On one hand, it’s neat that he’s got the discipline to do something like this so young. Scott, you seem like a smart kid and I wish you luck.
On the other hand, I hope I’m not the only one aggravated by attitudes like “then you have no excuse.” There are things worth pursuing in this world other than the entrepreneurial — romance, self-discovery, culture — and I think some of us are just worried that Scott will miss out on them if he joins the exceptionally time-consuming and, let’s face it, often single-minded world of business so young.
While it may surprise some of the people commenting on this post, not all worthy goals benefit from the sort of focus and ambition Scott is displaying. “Not all who wander is lost,” as they say.
I feel about Scott roughly the same way I feel when I hear about a young Olympic gymnast or Scrabble champion. I’m not sure what the world needs right now is more flips, triple word scores, or social networks. Achievement for its own sake seems like a luxury we can’t afford. I hope to god this job doesn’t succeed so well that it eats up the rest of Scott.
Heh heh. Not all who wander ARE lost.
Sorry, I’m posting from the States, it’s 8:30 am, and I’m pre-caffeinated.
So he can set up WordPress, send emails and sign up to other websites. According to your comments, he must be truly genius!
And this is by no means any kind of “start-up”… it’s just another website. He won’t be making any of money, or even run a real business any time soon. (maybe in the far away future…)
Sure, props for the effort, but you guys exaggerate. Totally pointless article.
Wow. Congratulations! Mehhs, i’m 17 and i haven’t start anything except for this site
This is really silly. A kid builds a wordpress site and you call it a start up? And he doesn;t even have to pay for rent and food and clothing while he spends his time hacking. At 13, I was actually making money mowing lawns. I think that qualifies a bit more as a startup. You’ve really dug deep on this on Michael. So substance whatsoever.
Seems like the word “start-up” has a precise definition that is lost on some people. Including me. Whatever. As Mike says, let’s recognise Scott’s spirit and drop the sour grapes from people with a definition stuck up their asshole.
Good for you, Scott. I hear from dotcom dreamers every day, who never take anything further.
Kids are more daring to try, they have NO commitments in life (often used as excuses by adults
) . Some more he could just take it for fun… which eventually doesn’t make any money at all… and he gets his funding from the mother… anyway seems like a simple wordpress site. We shall praise wordpress which has been made so easy even kits have NO problem to set it up!
How much has he made off of this venture?
I’m all for kids doing great things (I coach high school kids, after all), but how is this different from what any kid has set up a blog before? Over the years I’ve seen countless teens set up some wonderful content driven sites (before we called everything a blog). Some even made some nice coin with advertising.
I fail to see how this is a story.
“If a 13 year-old can launch a startup you have no excuse”
Please, dude – OF COURSE a 13-year-old can start a startup. They have oodles of time on their hands, and all their living expenses paid for! A 13-year old is in a HUGELY easier situation to start a startup than me, the sole breadwinner for a family of 4 who works full time, and has a mortgage to pay for. Duh!
Hassle-Free Homework, eh!!
The point of the story should be that, the biggest obstacle to starting any enterprise is ourselves. Taking the steps to the start line is 75% of the challenge. Scott is just proving the point. If he continues to “just do it” he’ll probably out achieve 95% of the rest of us just for trying.
Congrats! Keep up the hard work and you will no doubt be successful in life. Ignore all the Haters. there will always be some out there who will be jealous of your achievements
The same also applies to Video Podcasting
I’m 13 and I have a great time recording and editing footage in finalcut, I also hand code allot of projects I am involved in.
To debunk the “having loads of time” myth, we have to go to school for 8 hours a day in the UK and have tons of homework dropped on us so once that is all done, there is about 2 hours record time before you need to sleep to get up the next day!
Living expenses paid for? we may have food and utilities paid for but we get VERY little money to spend on computers, etc
The worst part is that most adults think that 13 = screaming xbox live cheaters or Windows Live messenger addicts, so they always treat teens as some outcast of the community and sometimes don’t let under 18s create an account on some places.
The internet is a harsh place to be sometimes.
define startup?
Where’s the monetary strategy? I don’t care one bit until the kid starts making some dough.
The kid looks like Mike Arrington in his CrunchBase photo.
This is just WordPress MU running the BuddyPress plugin core. That guy has some balls to call people up for reviews, that I need to admit. But otherwise, this story didn’t deserve the attention it got.
Kids are less shy to get others to review, or probably he simply doesn’t know what quality that TechCrunch will look at to review his website… but finally TechCrunch did just because he is a kid that will wow many of us….. and he gets famous with it