(Newswire.net — March 7, 2014) Singapore, Singapore — Dubbed ‘Wunderkid’ by Kamelia Angelova in an 2012 article for Business Insider, Singapore American School (SAS) alumnus Sahil Lavingia has soared to new heights every year since graduation. He was selected by Forbes magazine as one of technology’s “30 Under 30” this year, exceeding everyone’s expectations.
An entrepreneur at heart, he taught himself programming in middle school, selling more than 20 products in just a few years, before enrolling at the University of Southern California (USC). After a few months (and a great meeting with the founders of Pinterest), he dropped out of USC to join Pinterest.
He moved from Los Angeles up to San Francisco and was their lead designer. He created different designs that are still in use today (e.g. ‘Pin It’ button, ‘Pin It’ bookmarklet, social sharing as well as Pinterest search). Pinterest is a tool for collecting and organizing the things that inspire you.
In 2011, just when Pinterest was gaining traction exponentially, he left to found his own company, Gumroad. Alyson Shontell called him, “the most interesting teenager in Silicon Valley” in an article for Business Insider.
Mr. Lavingia shared that Gumroad is basically a web tool that lets creators quickly and easily sell digital products online. He said that he wished he had this type of tool to help him years ago when he was creating different products.
“Kids build great things,” reflects Mr. Lavingia about his impressive resume. “You almost need to be inexperienced and ignorant to be successful.”
By the way, he also raised a million dollars (US) for Gumroad in a few days with just a prototype. Then last year Gumroad announced it raised $7 million (US) Series A from Kleiner Perkins. He said that the trick is to already know who you’d like to have as investors in your company.
He will again be a speaker at the Echelon 2014 upcoming conference in Singapore. This is Asia’s largest technology conference. The organizers say ‘it’s more than just a tech conference.’ This two-day event features a speaker series of successful technology entrepreneurs, networking opportunities with investors and other organizations and companies.
“We are proud of our alumni as they make significant contributions to our world. Even though Sahil was a student here for only a few years, we believe that Singapore American School is a school where students can explore their interests and discover their passion. This contributes to our students’ abilities to be creative and innovate wildly,” shared High School Principal Tim Stuart.
Established in 1956, the school primarily serves the American and international expatriate communities of Singapore. SAS is registered with the Singapore Council for Private Education, affiliated with the Office of Overseas Schools through the U.S. Department of State, and is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC).
For more information about Singapore American School visit www.sas.edu.sg.
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