Ben Way
| Ben Way | |
|---|---|
Ben Way in 2008
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| Born |
Benjamin Peter Bernard Way 28 September 1980 Exeter, Devon, England |
| Residence | San Francisco, USA ; London, England ; |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur |
| Net worth |
 US$16 million (£10 million) |
Benjamin Peter Bernard Way (born 28 September 1980) is a serial entrepreneur and best selling author best known for his appearance on Secret Millionaire, The Startup Kids and as a cast member on Start-Ups: Silicon Valley, he started his first company at the age of 15. He went on to raise £25 million in his teens making him one of the first dot com millionaires.
Way grew up in a village in Devon, his parents divorced when he was young. He has also had a sister, Hermione Way who is a journalist and appeared on a reality TV show with him, they were separated from each other at an early age. Way was diagnosed with dyslexia at a young age and was told by his teachers he would never read or write however Way describes his Dyslexia as an advantage.
Way started his first company 'Quad', a computer consultancy, at age 15. At the age of 19 he raised £25 million from Jersey-based venture capitalist to create an online shopping comparison technology called Pulsar. However, after a dispute with the investors in 2001 he was diluted out of the business and lost everything. It is reported that he was in the under thirties Sunday Times Rich List 2001 on the same day he could not buy a tube ticket.
He won "New Business Millennium Young Entrepreneur Of The Year" in 2000 which was given to him by Gordon Brown. After receiving this award he went on to advise both the White House and the UK government on technology as well as joining the internet incubator NetB2B2 PLC as a non-executive. After this he headed up technical and environmental investments and due-diligence for the Rotch Property Group.
He currently runs The Rainmakers, which he started in 2004 an innovation and incubation company, through this he got involved with a number of start up companies, including the online mentoring company Horsesmouth, language learning company FriendsAbroad which was sold to Babbel. During this time he was also chief innovation officer for Brightstation Ventures a $100m technology VC fund started by Dan Wagner and Shaa Wasmund.
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