Kevin Hartz, a seasoned entrepreneur and venture capitalist, has made a striking shift in his investment focus — betting nearly 20% of his fund on startups founded by teenagers. This move reflects a growing trend where young, highly driven individuals are bypassing traditional education paths to build companies, often with little more than raw ambition and technical skill. Hartz, who co-founded Xoom and Eventbrite before launching A* Capital, has long been ahead of market shifts. His recent investments, including a backing of Aaru — an AI-powered prediction engine with a founder under 18 — highlight a new thesis: the most innovative minds aren’t necessarily found in university lecture halls, but in high school classrooms or home offices. He attributes the rise in teen founders to a combination of factors. Many of these young people are deeply bored by conventional schooling, especially at elite institutions where they outpace their peers academically. Some even homeschool or drop out early to pursue their passions. “We had one company with founders aged 18, 18, and 15,” Hartz said. “The CTO was 15 at the time — now he’s likely 16. That’s not unusual anymore.” This shift mirrors the broader cultural movement championed by programs like the Thiel Fellowship, which offered young people money to drop out of college and build startups. Cory Levy, founder of Z Fellows, has taken that idea further by creating a program that gives high schoolers $10,000 grants with no equity taken — a model Hartz sees as highly effective and increasingly popular. “It’s incredibly similar to the Thiel Fellowship,” Hartz noted, “but with more hustle behind it.” The rise of AI and automation is also pushing this trend forward. As jobs become more vulnerable to disruption, many young people see entrepreneurship not just as a dream, but as a necessity. “There’s this shift where more people will be 1099s than W-2s,” Hartz said. “The future of work is individualism — building your own thing, trading crypto, launching products. It’s American entrepreneurial hyperdrive.” Despite the excitement, Hartz acknowledges the emotional weight of backing a 15-year-old. “It’s exhilarating, but it’s also intense,” he said. “When a startup takes off, it consumes your life. At 15, you don’t know what you’re missing — the normal teenage experiences. That’s a real concern.” Still, he believes the current moment is just the beginning of a massive tech expansion cycle, driven by AI and new application layers. “We’re in early innings,” he said. “OpenAI and Anthropic are scaling fast, but we’re just starting to see what’s possible in coding co-pilots, AI CRM tools, and beyond.” Hartz’s own daughters are navigating college decisions — one is 17 and applying to schools, the other 13. He’s open to alternatives but wants them to explore options. “I’ve tried to give them the space to consider other paths,” he said. “But for now, they’re drawn to the college experience.” When asked about his investment focus, he revealed a dramatic shift: two years ago, only about 5% of his bets involved teenagers. Now, it’s close to 20%. “It’s not a trend,” he said. “It’s a transformation.”