Ben Pasternak- Flogg

Ben Pasternak was born on September 6, 1999, in Sydney, Australia. He began his coding journey at the age of 13 while still in school. During a science class, feeling bored, he created his first mobile game, Impossible Rush. The game quickly gained popularity, gaining millions of downloads and reaching No. 16 on the U.S. App Store. After declining internship offers from major companies like Facebook and Google, he made the bold decision to drop out of high school at 15 and relocate to New York City, where he secured one of the youngest rounds of venture capital funding in the tech industry at that age.

At just 15 years old, Pasternak established Flogg, a peer-to-peer marketplace app designed specifically for teenagers. With backing from venture capital firms such as Binary Capital and Greylock Partners, the app launched as the top trending app on the U.S. App Store in April 2016. Subsequently, he shifted focus and introduced Monkey in late 2016, a social video chat app tailored for Gen Z users. Monkey quickly gained traction, securing $2 million in investments by early 2017 and amassing over 20 million users who made more than 20 billion calls. The app soared to the top of the U.S. App Store and was ultimately sold to the Chinese social media company Holla.

In 2018, Pasternak co-founded Simulate, a food technology startup that specializes in creating plant-based chicken nugget alternatives. As the CEO, he successfully guided the company to secure more than $57 million in funding by 2021, attracting investors such as Chris Sacca, Alexis Ohanian, Jay-Z, McCain Foods, and AgFunder. By mid-2025, Simulate’s valuation exceeded $250 million, and it was acquired by Ahimsa Companies in October 2024.

By the age of 26, Pasternak had accumulated a net worth estimated between $13 million and $22 million. He earned a spot on Time’s list of “Most Influential Teenagers” and secured a place on Forbes’ “30 Under 30.” His remarkable journey from creating a single app out of boredom to establishing a multi-million-dollar plant-based food company illustrates how youthful curiosity, strategic shifts, and daring entrepreneurship can drive early success in the tech industry.