About Me
Hey, I’m Calix! I’m a 16 y/o software engineer with a passion for startups and B2C SaaS products, launching new projects and ventures on Launch Tech LLC - a consumer-centric venture incubator. Currently a Lead Product Manager at Fiveable.
I've sold 2 companies by 16, had my work featured in TechCrunch, Yahoo News, Business Insider, and Morning Brew, and have been offered partnerships with some of the biggest communities and companies in edtech.
My Journey
My Start in CS
Sep 2018Developed an interest in ethical hacking and penetration testing and learned everything from online courses.
Started Programming
Dec 2018Started learning Python on a recommendation from an instructor. Learned the basics in 5 days, and moved from there.
Transfer into DS/ML/AI
Feb 2019After learning programming and making small projects, I decided to use my Python skills to niche myself in data science, ML, and AI.
First Hackathon!
Jun 2019Attended my first hackathon because my friend was organizing it, and fell in love with it almost instantly.
Shift into Web Development
Jun 2019After learning about web development through my online ML/AI instructor, I pivoted my skill set into full-stack development.
First Initiative!
Jul 2019I started HackSpace - a team of HS developers helping nonprofits with development work when they didn't have the funds to outsource it.
First Hackathon Victory!
Nov 2019I attended and won 1st place and "Best Website" at Atoms&Bits by building Ano.js, an open-source web animation library.
First Internship!
Nov 2019After over ~100 applications and 3 rejected interviews, I landed my first internship as a SWE intern at Apollo DAE.
Launch Tech LLC is born!
May 2020After building and releasing 10+ projects, I was encouraged to start my own holding company. After some pivots, Launch Tech LLC was born, which was later rebranded to Ortexo.
Joined first fellowship - Urspace Labs 2020
Jun 2020After applying and being accepted to LaunchX, Leangap, and other programs, I joined my first Urspace Labs 2020, a product-centric fellowship.
Co-founded 1Academy
Aug 2020Networked and met Michael Ye, who then became my co-founder at 1Academy, an e-learning platform with all content being crowdsourced from YouTube.
Ortexo Acquired by NovaCrypt
Sep 2020After 5 months of working on Ortexo, we closed a paid asset acquisition deal with NovaCrypt on September 25, 2020.
Started building Hours
Oct 2020Starting off as a fun project, I revamped an idea called Hours that I had a while back. Fast-forward to today, the progress is still going strong!
Accomplishments
Underwent 6-figure acquisition between Hours & Fiveable
Accepted into On Deck Catalyst
Started my first ever company and got it acquired
Won my first hackathon 1 year after starting to code
Landed 2 internships in the last 2 months of 2019
Joined a huge intercollegiate nonprofit organization as a normal developer and was promoted to a director
Scaled Hours to 18k users in 6 months.
Had my work featured in Techcrunch, Business Insider, Yahoo News, and Morning Brew.
Self-taught myself programming and learned the basics through building projects
Able to attend hackathons as a workshop leader and a judge
Landed 4 internships within the first 3 months of 2020
Accepted into a collegiate/graduate level fellowship based on product design/development
Generated 650k views from $50 of influencer marketing.
Was offered a partnership by Discord Study, the largest Discord study server with 77k+ members and turned it down
Placed 2nd with my team at CCIC (California Cyber Innovation Challenge), a state-wide cybersecurity competition
Was invited into an early-stage startup as a UI/UX developer
Accepted into LaunchX, Leangap, and Bluestamp Engineering with an average acceptance rate of around 10-15%
Got to talk with amazing investors/entrepreneurs like Darrell Silver and Nisha Dua.
Took on my very first professional contract project
Attended 15+ hackathons
Co-founded my first lean tech startup in educational technology
Was offered executive positions in nonprofit organizations and companies and turned them down
Failures
Rejected from YC S21 batch
Rejected from multiple officer positions I applied and interviewed for
Started 1Academy with my co-founder, and ended up failing to meet product-market fit, causing us to discontinue the idea.
Failed to place Top 10 in the AWS Summit Deepracing competition 2019 (placed #19)
Failed to distribute my projects and grow a userbase
Applied to 170+ internships, got rejected/ghosted by ~150, and got rejected by 6 after the first round
Rejected from MLH Fellowship and CodeDay Labs
Failed to complete a take-home exercise from an internship employer and was rejected as a candidate
Worked really hard to get an IT internship and failed
Had to drop out of Google Code-in 2019 LAHacks Virtual 2020
Had to quit 3 internships due to time commitments and burnout
Founded, maintained, and ultimately failed my first attempt at a high-school run nonprofit
Faced loneliness throughout the year due to lack of social interaction and social skills
Failed at organizing my first online event
Recruited people into Launch Tech that later stabbed me in the back
Founded my first team within a nonprofit and failed to lead it
Struggled with interval burnout from intense work
Had a short-term identity crisis