Wisconsin college student hopes new app will catch fire
HOUSTON - Two years ago, he wowed the judges at Junior Achievement's Young Entrepreneur Live competition, earning him a $10,000 scholarship. Now, as four new competitors are set to follow in his footsteps, we are catching up with Middleton native Michael Mounajjed who is now hoping to wow some new investors.
The last time we spoke with Monajjed, it was hard to comprehend his success. At just 17, he dove head first into an industry people triple his age have had a hard time comprehending. As the owner of Calceus Mining, Mounajjed was too young at the time to trade crypto, instead building a business by helping others mine it. His business banked him thousands of dollars in profit and something else he now calls priceless -- champion of Junior Achievement's 2022 Young Entrepreneur Live competition.
As a contestant, Monajjed wowed the judges. Two years later, he's still making an impression.
Michael Mounajjed
"I wanted to be in Texas, or more or less. I wanted to be in a place that I saw where I could keep building startups," explained Mounajjed.
Monajjed is now a first-year student at Rice University in Houston. He is on an engineering track, studying applied math combined with business and computer science. Monajjed says he sold off his crypto mining business, choosing instead to start college with a clean slate. It has not stayed empty long. His newest venture is a social media company.
SIGN UP TODAY: Get daily headlines, breaking news emails from FOX6 News
"I wanted a way for it to be easier for students to meet each other and more importantly, to be able to see everything happening on campus at once. So I launched this app with one of my friends here, who is a sophomore right now from New Jersey. We call it, Bonfire," explained Mounajjed.
Bonfire allows you to track friends in real time and keeps you in the loop of everything happening on campus. It's already attached the eyes of investors. As he builds the brand and experiments, Mounajjed biggest challenge these days, he says, is time management.
"I realized really fast college is no joke," Mounajjed said.
As four new contestants are set to take the stage and follow in his footsteps, Mounajjed's advice is to soak in the experience.
Michael Mounajjed
"If you're able to get this far and meant that you failed and failed, and you were able to be successful off of that. And so I would take this opportunity as not really just about the money or not just about the award. But really think about it using experience, and boost up to get you to the next step," said Mounajjed.
FREE DOWNLOAD: Get breaking news alerts in the FOX6 News app for iOS or Android
It's a good example. It may be your next idea that catches fire.