Algebra was starting to bore Will Jamieson. But rather than skip out on his homework like millions of other eighth-grade students, the earnest Jamieson figured out a better solution.
“I was that really weird kid that actually took the time and read the calculator manual,” he laughs. “I taught myself how to program and programmed the calculator to do my math homework for me.”
Problem solved.
But as Jamieson entered high school, other typical teenage challenges cropped up, like what to say when one gets in trouble. Again he turned to computers, creating an iPhone app that spat out useful excuses for those that got busted. That may sound like a bestselling idea, but that app paled in comparison to what would follow.
In 2013, the College of Charleston computer science major debuted Front Flash, an app that improved the process of taking selfies by having the phone’s camera mimic a flash. More than one million people have used it.
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A year later, he and two colleagues raised $10 million dollars in venture capital funding through their development of Yik Yak, an app that allows for anonymous messaging to nearby users.
That’s not to mention the app he developed for Facebook profile pictures that caught the attention of the social media giant, which then sent him a letter laced with legal threats. The cool Jamieson took the warning in stride, knowing his future was boundless.
“If Facebook views me as a threat,” he says, “then, I must be doing something right.”
