GHAFOURIFAR April/May 2014 55 For some teens, getting a driver’s license is paramount, but not in Brienne’s case. While others pondered the rules of the road, her mind was on fast-tracking education and creating a game-changing app. By her 18th birthday, she had a high school diploma, a college economics degree and $1 million in venture capital funds for the startup she launched with her 21-yearold brother, Alston. She is believed to be the youngest college graduate in the world to raise $1 million in venture funding. Unbelievably, less than three months later, she had more than doubled that figure. The driver’s license might come later, but in the meantime, the Los Altos Hills teenager has a company to run. Investors in Brienne’s Palo Alto-based company, Entefy, are excited because the startup’s app could fundamentally change the way people communicate with each other. “At the core of what we do, we’re trying to unify our lives of digital communications, so we’re building an ecosystem that runs across all your devices,” Brienne explains. She describes it as a “universal remote” that will thread together email, texts, instant messages and social media messages into one app in one place. It solves the “pain point,” as she calls it, of trying to keep track of the fragmented conversations we all have over numerous communication channels. The idea for Entefy (from an old British word spelled “entify,” which means to bring something to life) came from watching people use communications technology at a local coffee shop where the Ghafourifar family regularly gathers to talk. As long as she can remember, she, Alston and their parents—both entrepreneurs themselves— have engaged in “dinner table talks” over cups of chai tea. “We talk about current issues, whether in technology or in business, social impact or specific ventures The Startup Co-Founder BRIENNE that are standing out to us,” she says. “We always had those conversations as a family, and we’ve maintained that even today.” INTELLECTUAL, PHYSICAL EXCURSIONS That parental inclusion in high-level business conversations, as well as going along on work trips all over the world (she estimates she’s been to 26 countries), made a deep impression on Brienne. She says she’s always had an entrepreneurial side encouraged by her parents; as a young girl she created a PowerPoint presentation on why she should get a dog (it didn’t work). The combination of her childhood experiences makes the naturally affable Brienne come across as wise and worldly. Brienne is all about efficiency, and when it came to her education, she followed in her brother’s footsteps, enrolling in an accelerated program that allowed her to finish both high school and college in just a few years. “The one thing you can’t buy is time,” she says. Accelerating a degree, despite having to pull what her parents called “dot com” hours, motivated her to push through and finish. “Now we have a few extra years to do something really exciting.” Brienne earned an economics degree at Santa Clara University, where she made a positive impression on her professors. Some encouraged her to pursue more education and a career as an economics professor herself. But Brienne’s entrepreneurial spirit took over, and she and her brother began putting together Entefy during her final quarter at SCU. She says she worked part time at the startup to build the foundation and to meet with investors. And although she admits to feeling a bit scared when pitching to people who were much older and more experienced, she says she found a number of “yea-sayers instead of naysayers,” who saw the potential in what the brother-sister team was building. “To me, the thing that keeps me going is the support that I have around me and really surrounding yourself with people that believe in you, and people who want to help you grow and see you succeed,” she says. Brienne says she has always worked to be around people who are encouraging, whether family, friends, teachers and now investors and co-workers. She calls her Entefy team inspiring, both employees and investors. Her parents and her brother, she notes, remain her biggest inspirations. This spring the Entefy team is focusing on developing the first version of its app, and plans on releasing a private beta later this year. Brienne says there is an exciting larger vision beyond this first product, and she remains extremely optimistic about Entefy’s success. Those who know her say that attitude does not surprise them, and will serve the young woman well in the future. “Brienne is a smart, articulate young lady with a tremendous career ahead of her,” says Jennifer Woolley, a former SCU business professor. “Not only does she have ideas that are interesting and innovative, but also she graciously solicits and appreciates feedback. What she has worked on to date is just the beginning.” Beyond Entefy, Brienne says she thinks about philanthropy and how she can help others pursue their dreams and overcome social barriers like age and gender. “There are a lot of people out there who want to be entrepreneurs and who have these ideas but they lack the opportunity to get there. We in the Silicon Valley have more of an opportunity, and it’s my job to democratize that access.” AGE 18 LIVES LOS ALTOS HILLS FOR FUN EXOTIC TRAVEL AND FOOD
South Bay Accent - Apr/May 2014
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