Ben Pasternak

I chose Ben Pasternak, an Australian boy and the founder of Flogg, Monkey, and SIMULATE (NUGGS). He is a young man who always had a liking for technology, so he decided he wanted to start making virtual apps, and because of him doing that, he actually became a tech prodigy, which is what he would be called. But later he had an idea, and that idea was SIMULATE, a food-tech company producing plant-based chicken nuggets using scientific R&D. His brand focuses on sustainability, future food systems, and tech-driven manufacturing. For a little background to show how he was able to get to this point, he attended Moriah College and Reddam House. He began his programming dream as a young teenager, then at the age of 13 he developed his first game, but taking a leap at the age of 15 he dropped out of high school and moved to New York City after raising early venture capital. So after all of this, he is where he is today, owning SIMULATE, like I said briefly before, a company that raised $4.1 million in a round that included Alexis Ohanian (Reddit cofounder), and in 2021, SIMULATE raised $50 million in Series B funding.

So what I learned from reading about this young entrepreneur is this: no matter how hard the idea seems, taking a step like he did, even dropping out, can sometimes be the step that you needed to take.