$1M From a High School Bathroom

Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes

🌟 Editor's Note:

Welcome to Behind the Books! A 3-minute read with stories, tools, and lessons from real companies—what worked, what didn’t, and what founders can learn.

🚽 The Story:

Eric Zhu didn’t wait to graduate to become a founder.

He started coding at 14.

By high school, he co-founded Aviato, a data analytics startup.

But fundraising was a problem. Not because the pitch was bad. Because the school was loud.

So Eric improvised.

He brought a ring light and a green screen to the only quiet space he could find: a high school bathroom.

That’s where he took Zoom calls with investors. Pitching from a toilet stall. One viral photo proved it.

And guess what?

He landed a $50K check from GitHub’s co-founder, Tom Preston-Werner.

And by the time he was 17, Eric had raised $1 million.

From a bathroom.

The Lesson:

Eric's story is not about age, polish, or setup.

It’s about:

→ How obsessed you are

→ How resourceful you get

→ And how far you’ll go to get in the room even if the room is tiled and echoes

From Behind the Books:

When you're all in, the Wi-Fi stall becomes a boardroom.

Your weekly prompt:

If you had to pitch your big idea today with no prep, no slides, no quiet: could you still sell it?

Try.

See you next Friday, – Yan

P.S. Know a young founder trying to “look ready” before they start? Forward this to them. The stall’s open.