SCOTTSDALE — A Valley teenager is already making his mark in the business industry.
Paradise Valley High School senior Cooper Weissman told ABC15 he already feels like he’s been through a lot in his 17 years.
“I started businesses my whole life, pretty much all of them have failed,” he said.
In eighth grade, he started a business to help other local businesses market inside his middle school. He tells ABC15 it didn’t work out. After that, he tried to jumpstart several companies nearly every year of his high school career.
“When you’re using your birthday money to run advertisements, any loss in funds can be detrimental to a business,” he said laughing.
Luckily, Weissman's new ventures are helping him keep some money in his pockets. He started Dynamic Purchasing Solutions last year. It’s a school supply company where he gets on approved vendor lists for schools and distributes supplies when they’re needed.
The idea came about when he was in student government, getting ready for school dances and other events. He said they had trouble ordering items they needed from approved district vendors.
It’s not about trying to order paper or pens and pencils. It’s more of the creative supplies they needed. For example, a homecoming dance theme his school had was Spiderman. They needed web decoration but couldn’t buy it from any approved vendors.
“It started just at my school and now we’re approved at 43 different schools. It’s pretty exciting. The workload has started to pile up,” he said.
Weissman ended up hiring two interns from his own school recently to help with business as more districts order from him. Most of the work is done online, where he orders from other businesses to ship to the districts.
Having to juggle that while also applying for colleges and doing his schoolwork can be a lot. And he’s taking on even more.
Weissman started a blockchain development firm eight months ago called WeiDev. He says that company creates NFTS, DAO dashboards and much more.
“I have a passion for technology as well. I love solving problems. I think using technology is going to be the greatest and most effective way to solve problems in the future. Really, combining those passions is how I want to move forward,” he told ABC15.
While Weissman runs his two businesses, he’s still juggling work as a high school senior, student body president and the creator of a financial literacy club.
He says it is a “struggle” but he’s also passionate about what he’s doing.
“I think the only way to change things is to put yourself out there and do it. It;s something that inspires me. I like being the one who goes and solves problems, finds the creative solutions. It’s just where my passion lies,” he said.
