14-year-old CEO is Livonia's youngest chamber member

David Veselenak, Livonia Observer

Livonia resident Grant Sobczak has no doubts about his goals: He wants to run a successful $100 billion company.

He thinks he's got a pretty good start, becoming the youngest member of the Livonia Chamber of Commerce with his business, Modern Mind Technology.

The 14-year-old, who will be a freshman at Churchill High School this fall, launched his company earlier this year, offering services such as social media management, Web design and app design.

Designing products and websites that are appealing to look at and do the job is a strength of his company, Sobczak said, something he doesn't see with smaller companies like his.

"We want to change that and make something that's beautiful and functional," he said. "I think that's what's going to make us successful against our competitors."

His company, found at modernmindtechnology.com, has partnered with several local groups, including Livonia Public Schools and the Livonia Rotary Club, which will induct Sobczak as its youngest youngest member Thursday.

Sobczak's mother, Casandra Sobczak, said she's tried to support him in all his ventures, even signing the paperwork for him when he created his business because, legally, he was too young to do it himself. She said she's gone with the flow and it has seemed to work out well for her son.

"When he would say these things, I would say, 'I don't know, Grant,'" she said. "He's always been one to have really big ideas. It seems like every time he does something, it ends up happening."

His work has even gotten the attention of several Livonia Chamber of Commerce members, said president Dan West. Sobczak came and discussed his business with several chamber members last month and came across as a professional who knows what he's doing, he said.

"Grant came in and really impressed the board with his wit and his intelligence," West said. "You could really tell he was focused on making this work."

The history

It began during his time as a member of the Emerson Middle School Technology Collaboration, a group of friends who did technology work at the school.

"It was like a little group of friends who helped with school and improved it with websites and if a teacher needed some kind of survey done, we'd conduct that," he said. "Then around October, we decided to start this new project."

That project, creating online data binders for the Franklin Covey "The Leader in Me" program, came as a necessity, Sobczak said, as the paper folders would get to be too much.

"That was really a problem, because they were falling apart and they were heavy," he said. "The idea was to take everything in that binder and put it online."

They then began marketing the idea across Emerson, taking some time to find the best way to spread the idea to the group's fellow students. It's grown so much, Franklin Covey became interested and contacted the students. Sobczak and other students continue to remain in touch to find a way to implement their technology in their platforms.

"That's when I realized this product will be worth something," he said. "We're still waiting to see the details."

And he and his friends are looking toward the future in product development. He said they're currently working on a project he was not willing to share the details on, but promises it will impress.

"I'm thinking it's going to be the next big thing," he said.

Ann Owen, principal of Emerson Middle School, is the one who got Grant involved with the Rotary by having him do some Web work for the club. She said he is far more tech savvy than the average eighth-grader.

She said she is impressed with his entrepreneurial skills, saying he researched how to start his own business, including how to form a limited liability corporation.

He recently spoke at a symposium at Schoolcraft College in front of 400 educators and got a standing ovation, she said.

Owen said Grant, who hopes to be the next Steve Jobs or Bill Gates, is one of those few exceptional students an educator runs across in her career.

"I hope his business plan includes me in his retirement sharing," she said.

-Staff Writer Karen Smith contributed to this report.

dveselenak@hometownlife.com | 734-678-6728 Twitter: @DavidVeselenak