I admit to beeing surprised and intrigued when I was contacted with the recommendation to speak to Jeet Banerjee. I was informed that ‘he is a true inspiration, innovator, and just simply brilliant’, so of course, I just had to find out if that was the case!

How about you tell me what you do and how you got started?

Sure. I’m a 19 year old serial entrepreneur and college student; I have created multiple start-ups since about the age of 17. I created my first start-up company while I was actually working as an assistant for my father’s software development company, I really just could not stand working under someone so I decided to find a way where I could make money while being my own boss.

That is when I came up with the idea to create my first Start-up Company, www.JBMediaForce.com, which was a web design, web development, and internet marketing company.

Can you explain what a start up is?

Yeah sure. A start up company is essentially a newly created business that is either still in the developmental phase or has just launched. Typically, these companies have very little capital and are run by very few people who work around the clock.

Are all of your companies web development based?

Well all my companies created to date are internet based but they do not have to do with web development. Only my first company, JB Media Force was a web development company. My second start-up company was actually an educational application that students could utilize to make the transition from high school to college smoother. This company was called StatFuse.

I am currently in the process of launching two more start-up companies. The first company, known as Hypetize is a talent promotion tool that helps bring talented musicians to the forefront. My other start-up company is Vintelli, which is a cheaper and more effective way of getting your websites ranking on the search engines.

Can you explain each one, starting with StatFuse; in what way does it help the transition?

StatFuse.com offers an array of tools that high school students can use to help them with the confusions of college admissions. We offer FREE tools such as the “Chanculator”, which allows students to calculate their chances to any college around the nation. Not only that, but we have many other tools like College Recommendations, College Insider, College Top 100, Campus Tours, and My College Planner which help students learn more about the colleges before they apply.

Is this only applicable to the USA? Or is it an international source?

At this point of time we only have USA schools in our database. However, we are working on cracking a solution that will allow students to use our website internationally as well.

That could be very useful for many school leavers!

How does Hypetize help musicians?

Hypetize is a platform that allows aspiring musicians to showcase their talents for the world. It is essentially a marketing tool that can provide amazing results. Artists have the ability to create profiles where they can upload their music, videos, concert/tour information and personalities for everyone to see.

It also offers artists the unique ability to create a social media campaign to promote themselves. Artists essentially select a short message that can promote their music, concert/events, or anything else and select various social networks that they would like their message shared. Then, they publish their campaign and fans (anyone with a Facebook/Twitter account) can come and share/tweet their message while earning money for themselves.

For example – The artist Jimmy can create a campaign to promote his new song “Rocker for Life”. He pays, chooses to promote his music on Facebook/Twitter, and waits for the results.

Then the fan John sees Jimmy’s post and decides that this is a great way for him to make some money. He simply shares or tweets Jimmy’s message on his Facebook/Twitter account for all his friends to see. Upon doing so, Jimmy earns money!

So apart from costing and earning money, how does that differ from sites such as Facebook, My Space and YouTube etc?

All of those sites never give artists the ability to get promoted. Sure you can create a profile and upload your music but these sites never give you the opportunity to get your music heard. We understood this problem that artists face and thus created Hypetize.

Hypetize is one of the first sites that actually HELP aspiring musicians get to the next level by showcasing their music and talents.

Since fans are what drive the artist and help them develop a successful career, we decided to gives the fans the ability to get involved in the promotion of their favorite artists while making some money out of it.

It definitely sounds like a unique idea for musicians.

Yeah it’s a new approach for musicians to try in hopes of taking their careers a step further.

So onto Vintelli, how does that one work?

Vintelli is pretty simple in comparison to this last one. Anyone with a website essentially signs up on Vintelli and creates a business listing for themselves. They add their logo, business information, testimonials, any coupons and essentially give people a basic understanding of their company.

Once they do that, Vintelli develops an understanding of what this business does and who it serves. Vintelli then automatically begins to rank these websites on top of the major search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing, Etc.) and places this business in the centre of the buzz on various social networks.

Aren’t there other sites that offer this too?

Yeah there are quite a few different companies that offer something similar to search engine optimization. However, the main difference between Vintelli and these other internet marketing companies is the cost & the process.

A successful internet marketing campaign will run you anywhere from $500+ a month with any basic company. However, with the use of Vintelli we offer the same service in an automated service between $30-$50 a month.

The process that Vintelli uses is also quite different from these other companies. Vintelli offers a sort of do-it-yourself approach to search engine optimization. You create your own listings, select your own keywords and manage your own leads while getting superior results at a fraction of the cost.

So people pay you to self-promote? Good business sense!

Well we still rank their business on the search engines and on the social Medias. That is what they are paying us for. Essentially, they are just involved in the selection process of the keywords and they describe their own business.

What inspired you to start each of these different types of business?

Well, I always look for various problems in the world. If you can find a problem, you can create a business out of it almost always. I was inspired to start these businesses because at different points of my life, I found problems with certain things and was able to develop creative and simple solutions to solve these problems.

How did you get the idea for each?

StatFuse – My partner & I were just getting ready to graduate high school and were talking about which colleges we wanted to get into. However, we did not want to wait 3-4 months to hear back from colleges on their decision. We decided to look for a website that could tell you instantly whether you can get in to a college or not, but we could not find a website. That is why we decided to create it ourselves.

Hypetize – I came up with this idea when a friend of mine was explaining how difficult it was being a musician. I asked him why it was so difficult and he told me that he simply could not get heard. That is when I decided to find a solution for my friend’s problem and came up with this idea.

So many people spend tons and tons of money on search engine optimization, but rarely ever get their money back. I was tired of seeing people spend $5,000 on a search engine marketing campaign and get no results. I wanted to find a cheaper and more effective alternative for these individuals and was inspired to create this business.

How do you manage college life, socialising and keeping up with the businesses?

To be honest, it can be quite a handful at times. However, I just try and prioritize my tasks and try to utilize my time wisely. I realized a lot of time gets wasted in a day and I try to make optimal use of all the time I have. I manage business, college life and my friends by prioritizing my tasks. If I need to do something that is due in 2 hours and something else that is due tomorrow morning, I will work on the item due in 2 hours before working on anything else. I guess I just use my time wisely.

Do you have an ultimate goal of what you wish to achieve?

My ultimate goal is to leave this world knowing that I made a difference. I want to be remembered as someone that found some problems in the world and create some solutions that can hopefully live on forever.

What advice would you give to other people that see a gap in the market but do not know how to start filling it?

I would tell them to go for it! If you can find something you are passionate about and are confident in making a business out of it, go for it. Nothing should stop you and even though the road to success isn’t easy, you will never know until you try.

Do you have other ideas in the pipeline?

Well I have a notepad full of ideas on my phone that I jot down as they come to me. As of now, I have my hands full with these start-up companies so I’m mainly trying to focus on these. However, in the future as more time becomes available to me, I am sure I will begin working on some new ideas.

How many people do you currently have working for you?

I recently sold my first start-up company JB Media Force in hopes of focusing more attention on my current businesses. However, when I was running JB Media Force, I had around 13-15 employees working under me. Currently, I am working with partners and consultants in my ongoing start-ups.

That is great! You must be really proud. I assume you have a lot of support from your family too?

Yeah my family has been fairly supportive throughout the process. They have supported me with funding in the past and have always rooted for me along the way.

Is there anything else that you wanted to let people know about?

Just that I am publishing a book that will be available for purchase very soon. The book will be available on my personal website www.JeetBanerjee.com (which is also launching in the next few days).

 What is the book about?

It’s a guide for other entrepreneurs who are just starting out. The book essentially helps entrepreneurs from the very beginning of their start-up to the end. I use my own insight and experiences to create a guide that an entrepreneur can follow to ensure a higher chance of success.