Jack Bonneau

I was in middle school and 8 yrs old, I started a lemonade stand because I wanted the Lego Star Wars Deathstar. I put it at my local farmers market, had $2K in sales and got my Lego Deathstar!  The following year I wanted to do it again, but wanted to share the great experiences I had with other kids who didn't have the same opportunity, so I created Jack's Stands. Jack's Stands provided kids opportunities to operate their own lemonade stand, but in properly permitted commercial locations like farmers markets. I exanded my locations to sell other young entrepreneurs great products. My story has been told in the NYT, Today Show and I became the youngest male to successfully pitch on ABC's Shark Tank.  Jack's Stands is now a non-profit with the same mission. 

When I became a teen I wanted find something that appealed to teens. Researching, I learned that millions of teens decades ago had their own small business through newspaper delivery - paper routes. This was my "Aha" moment! I knew that I could bring back the "paper route", but update it for today's Gig Economy. This became Teen Hustl, bringing back the opportunity for teens to work in their neighborhood delivering packages and having their "first job", learning about work, responsibility, financial literacy, developing social & life skills. Teen Hustl is bringing back the paper route, but updated for today's Gig Economy. 

I'm solving two challenges that have synergy!  

First is to bring back the opportunities that millions of youth had decades ago (for over 100 years) through newspaper delivery via paper routes, but updated for today's Gig Economy.  Youth that had paper routes decades ago had to be responsible, learned time management, financial literacy, sales, customer service, grit and developed social and life skills. 

The second, solving the challenges of last-mile delivery. Last mile delivery to our homes is the most expensive, less eco-friendly, congested, prone to theft & safety issues than any other part of ecommerce logistics delivery. Teen Hustl solves these challenges through in-neighborhood package delivery by local neighborhood teens on bike/e-scooters. Teen Hustl offers (for the first time) at-home ecommerce package return pickup and processing, in-neighborhood package delivery and neighbor2neighbor pickup and delivery on the Nextdoor marketplace.  

Solving these challenges is important because I have seen in my own life and with my earlier efforts the tangilble benefits of experiential learning  business/entrepreneurship, interaction with the public and financial literacy. Solving the challenges of last mile delivery and providing youth gig economy opportunities positively affects my community, the kids that I know and all youth, their communities and our country. 

Teen Hustl's unique approach is to provide nation's teens the opportunity to participate in the Gig Economy and provide solutions to challenges to our nation's last-mile delivery.  Our specific approach is different since we engage our nation's neighborhood teens, provide them with the same tools as other unicorn delivery services.  We also focus on areas that these unicorns have not focused on, Amazon returns, in-neighborhood teen deliveries of ecommerce packages and Nextdoor marketplace Neighbor2Neighbor delivery of items sold, which is the first to provide neighborhood delivery of pre-owned items that supports the benefits of the Circular Economy.    

I've been able to set Teen Hustl for success by surrounding myself who have more experience than myself and others on board who want to be apart of the vision that I've shared.  This includes a Teen Advisory board that includes several exceptional diverse teens from across the country.  Assembling a formal adult advisor board with C-level/senior experience from UPS, Amazon, Uber, Techstars and other top organizations.  Co-founder who have backgrounds in technology, former Amazon logistics experience and my dad, who is a serial entrepreneur.  

But most importantly, we've been able to engage with many exceptional teens across the country who are interested working with and bringing Teen Hustl to their neighborhoods. 

Teen Hustl and myself have been acknowledged by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Dream Big Young Entrepreneur Award in 2020.   

I can say that though we are a startup, Teen Hustl has been able to generate word of mouth in the neighborhoods that we operate in for other neighbors to utilize our service.  

With very little exposure teens have pro-actively reached out to Teen Hustl to be apart of our effort and we seen potential Teen Hustlrs share this opportunity with other teens.  

We've recently had meetings that large logistics companies are motivated to use Teen Hustl due to our mission, last mile challenges solutions and positive connections to our youth and communities.  

Lastly, I've created (and continue to create) Youtube videos, soclial media postings that share what Teen Hustl is pioneering to connect with teens in their social media environment.