Tynan on Tech

Tynan on Technology (TOT) recently had a chance to converse (by email) with Catherine Cook, co-founder of myYearbook.com, the fastest growing social network on the planet and the number one destination for teens on the Net. What’s so special about that? Well, Catherine was 15 when she came up with the idea, along with her brother Dave (age 17 at the time). She’s now 18 and a freshman at Georgetown University. (See her profile on PC world.com for more info.) Here’s what she had to say.

TOT: What inspired you to start MyYearbook.com? Was there something missing from MySpace or Facebook?

As new students in our high school my brother Dave and I (he’s 19 now, I’m 18) decided we needed a better way to make friends and get to meet our classmates. At the time, we had never heard of Facebook, since we launched in April 2005, before Facebook launched in high schools. As to MySpace, it was a bit creepy. Dave and I wanted a place where you could connect easily with just the people from your high school if you wanted to.

TOT: Are you doing what you saw yourself doing as a small child? Are you living your dream? Or has your career path been more serendipitous?

I grew up watching my oldest brother Geoff start and run his company cyberedit.com and from watching him, and visiting him in his super cool office in Palm Springs, CA, I knew I didn’t want to have a normal job like my parents– I wanted something cooler, more creative, and just more fun. I didn’t necessarily see myself starting a social networking site, but I think I’ve always seen myself as an entrepreneur.

TOT: What’s a typical day like?

Well, in a typical day I go to classes at Georgetown University, and work from my dorm on the site. Usually I put in about 8 hours every day with work. I’m usually in my friend’s room and while she’s doing homework, I’m working on the site.

TOT: Where do you see yourself in 10 or 20 years? Do you think you’ll be doing the same thing?

No, probably not the same exact thing, but right now all i think about is ways to make myYearbook better and what’s next for the site. It’s hard to imagine life without it! Truthfully, I couldn’t imagine my freshman year of high school that I would have such a giant site with more than a billion pageviews/month and more than 5 million members by my freshman year in college, so it’s pretty hard to predict what I’ll do next, but I definitely don’t see myself settling down into the normal corporate world.

TOT: What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far? What challenges do you anticipate?

The biggest challenge is staying relevant to myYearbook’s demographic and constantly thinking of new features to add to the site. We try to add a new feature every 2 weeks, and get our ideas for the features directly from our users. I anticipate that staying important to our audience will always be the biggest challenge. Without our members, myYearbook is nothing.

TOT: Do you feel like you’ve had to sacrifice what it typically means to be a kid to achieve what you’ve achieved? What has been the biggest sacrifice? What do you miss?

I suppose, but other than myYearbook I lead a normal life. I have a boyfriend, I did varsity gymnastics in high school, and I go to college. I do wish once in awhile that I could stay at school more weekends rather than coming home to work, but I think founding myYearbook has been the best thing to ever happen to me. I used to be shy and a bit insecure, but now I’m a much stronger person, and from having millions of friends on myYearbook, I’m a lot more outgoing!

TOT: What advice do you have for other young people who may be looking to follow a similar path?

Really just to go for it and fulfill their dreams. So many people have great ideas, but let something else get in the way, or will for whatever reason think they’re incapable of making something great. They need to remember that getting the idea is the hard part, all they have to do is believe in themselves. Also, this is the best time to start your own company. When you’re a teenager, it’s virtually risk free to start a business: You’re still dependent on your parents so really there are no major risks. Even if you fail, you’ll still have a really really great college admissions essay, so just do it already.

Tags: entrepreneur, my yearbook, social networks, teen millionaire, web babe, whiz kid

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