Squat for two months, get a $50,000 seed investment. How's that deal sound to you? Entrepreneur Gets $50K After Squatting at AOL Office

(Image credit: classconnect.com)

Eric Simons, 20, had all the attributes of a passionate entrepreneur:
hungry, visionary, resourceful and willing to do whatever it took to
get his startup off the ground, including squatting at AOL’s
headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif.

But after surviving on office catering leftovers and snacks for two
months, the entrepreneur has now put his startup in motion with $50,000
from investors.

Simons moved to Silicon Valley from Illinois last year when he was 19
years old. Accepted into the inaugural class of the Silicon Valley
startup incubator, Imagine K12, he decided to pursue the dream of his
startup instead of college.

He and his friends were given $20,000 for ClassConnect, which allows
teachers to create and share lesson plans with students and other
teachers. After the four month program ended, his friends quit to attend
college and the money ran out too. But Simons, with a working AOL
badge, continued coming to the office, as first reported by CNET.

Simons showered in AOL’s gym, slept on company couches, and ate
snacks and leftovers from the frequent catering that served the
employees and other entrepreneurs working at the office. Because AOL
allows other entrepreneurs and programs to work in its office, Simons
was able to stay through October and November last year.

On the hunt for investors, he said moving back to Chicago would have meant shutting down ClassConnect.

“What we’re working on is extremely important and will have an
important impact on educational system,” he said. ”I couldn’t bring
myself to pack up, which is how I got clever and figured out how I could
stay out there.”

His parents and family knew he was squatting, but almost everyone he knew applauded his dedication, including his parents.

“They knew of it. It killed them to see me living on couches and
eating scraps but at the end of the day they were pretty proud of me for
dong that,” Simons said.

ClassConnect’s $50,000 seed investment, half of which is closing
today from Ulu Ventures may be giving Simons’ parents another reason to
be proud. Simons said he received the first of the investment two weeks
ago. The first thing Simons did with the money was rent a three bedroom
home in Palo Alto where he and his two partners are working. He plans to
rent out the master bedroom for extra cash.

Clint Korver of Ulu said the company is helping Eric raise the remaining $500,000 from other investors.

Brett Kopf, 25, and his brother, David, were part of Simons’ Imagine
K12 class, and housed Eric on their couch when he wasn’t living at
AOL. The Kopf brothers launched Remind101, a service which helps
teachers text homework reminders and other messages to students and
parents, eight months ago.

“He’s the most energetic kid I know,” Brett said of Simons. “For a
[then] 19-year old it’s just very impressive, for his tenacity, to do
that.”

David Speiser, spokesman for AOL, said he the company does not
encourage employees or intruders to sleep in its office, but he does
applaud the spirit of Simons’ dedication.

“We did not know that Eric was sleeping in the offices and that’s
obviously not something we can or want to encourage. We have to maintain
a professional workplace,” Speiser said. “At the same time, as a
company we’re working very hard to encourage employees to work very hard
and create an environment to promote Silicon Valley dream of
entrepreneurship and dedication to an idea.”

“It was always our intention to facilitate entrepreneurialism in the
Palo Alto office — we just didn’t expect it to work so well,” David
Temkin, SVP of mail and mobile for AOL, said in a statement.