TV show to follow young tech entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley

Channel 4 show ‘How to be a Young Billionaire’ will follow three young entrepreneurs attempting to make their multi-billion pound start-up dreams come true in Silicon Valley.

The three entrepreneurs on How to be a Young Billionaire - Josh, Julia, and Robyn - are all in their twenties, with big ambitions. Josh is working on a game, but needs an investment of $5m to complete it; Julia has created an app for teenagers to share secrets and wants to grow her user base; and Robyn is attempting to move her lesbian dating venture to the USA.

All three entrepreneurs are pursuing ideas within the technology sector, which has been showing consistently solid growth as concepts like the internet of things and mobile applications begin to transform the world around us.

Young entrepreneurs on the rise

From Alan Schaaf, founder of Imgur, to Mike Krieger, co-founder of Instagram, an increasing number of successful entrepreneurs in the tech world are under 30 years old. More and more young people are now setting out to pursue their own business ideas.

Last year, it was found that there were record numbers of young people in the UK starting their own companies: the figure rose from 145,104 companies in 2006 to 247,049 in 2013. In addition, a Prince’s Trust survey found that nearly a third of people aged 16 – 30 believed that they would be self-employed in the future, and one in four thought they would become their own boss.

Tech in UK encourages young people

From 2013 to now, that number is likely to have grown even higher, especially within the rapidly expanding tech sector. In addition, Accenture recently found that the UK was at the forefront of fintech, receiving 42% of all European investment.

London itself is a buzzing hub of technology, with Tech City in the East not only rivalling Silicon Valley for sheer number of tech start-ups, but also contributing to a variety of programmes for young people, such as code clubs and apprenticeships.

With all of this being the case, it is no wonder that so many young people are looking to the tech industry to make their own way in the world.