William LeGate
William LeGate
Born | September 3, 1994 | ||
---|---|---|---|
Residence | Los Angeles, California | ||
Education | The Walker School | ||
Occupation | Entrepreneur, Computer programmer | ||
Awards | Thiel Fellowship |
Born | September 3, 1994 | ||
---|---|---|---|
Residence | Los Angeles, California | ||
Education | The Walker School | ||
Occupation | Entrepreneur, Computer programmer | ||
Awards | Thiel Fellowship |
William LeGate (born September 3, 1994), is an American entrepreneur, Thiel Fellow, computer programmer, and political commentator described by Business Insider as one of the most powerful people in tech. He was first recognized at age of 15 by The New York Times for creating the iOS application Fake-A-Text which, as of 2015, has received over 6 million downloads. [8]
Upon graduating high school, billionaire PayPal co-founder and investor Peter Thiel awarded LeGate—then aged 18—with a Thiel Fellowship, a prestigious $100,000 (USD) grant given annually to around 20 people under 20 years of age on the condition that they drop out of school in order to pursue an entrepreneurial path. William LeGate now works for Everipedia on a project called PredIQt which allows users to create decentralized prediction markets.[22] He serves as its CEO. [8] [25] [26]
Early life
LeGate was born on September 3, 1994 in Atlanta, Georgia, son of real estate entrepreneur father and stay-at-home mother. He was raised in the suburbs of Atlanta and is a graduate of The Walker School in Marietta, Georgia.
Career
Thiel Fellowship
Having taught himself computer programming from online Stanford courses starting at the age of 13, LeGate stated in a 2011 interview that he has always had a passion for entrepreneurship. Throughout high school, he created over a dozen iPhone applications which were being used by 1 in 12 American teenagers upon his graduation.
His early success caught the attention of billionaire PayPal co-founder and investor Peter Thiel who awarded LeGate—then aged 18—with a Thiel Fellowship, a prestigious $100,000 (USD) grant given annually to around 20 people under 20 years of age on the condition that they drop out of school in order to pursue an entrepreneurial path.
Ponder
Toward the end of his Thiel Fellowship, LeGate began created the Ponder mobile application of which he was listed as co-founder and CEO.
The New York Post dubbed Ponder as the 'anti-Kardashian' photo sharing app with Teen Vogue adding that Ponder is "drama-free. No trolls, bullying, or negativity. Just cool photos & videos."
Tinder co-founders Sean Rad and Justin Mateen both invested in the app, and Justin's brother Tyler Mateen was a co-founder of Ponder. [24]
Political Views
William LeGate is an advocate of Socialist policies such as Universal Basic Income and other forms of Welfare proposed by Democrats such as Bernie Sanders. He became involved in the political scene in 2017 after gaining notoriety on Twitter for his critical responses to Donald Trump's tweets.
LeGate believes that Artificial Intelligence will eliminate jobs for human workers, and has campaigned for Andrew Yang's 2020 Presidential bid. [22]
Awards and recognition
In 2014, Business Insider named LeGate, alongside Marques Brownlee, as the most powerful 20 year old in tech.
In 2013, LeGate was listed as one of The 25 Most Impressive Kids Graduating From High School This Year, and soon after as one of The 8 Hottest Teenage Startup Founders In The World Right Now.
Billionaire PayPal founder and early Facebook investor, Peter Thiel granted LeGate a Thiel Fellowship in 2013.
The Atlanta Business Chronicle listed LeGate as one of their '20 Under 20' youth leaders.
When LeGate was 15 years old, his app Fake-A-Text was featured in The New York Times.
See also
Nick D'Aloisio