How it all started
My name is Gabe Rapoport, I’m the Founder of Sparx. This is the story of my entrepreneurship journey and how I started Sparx. My first taste of entrepreneurship came when I was 4 years old. I would often come with my dad to his boss’ house while he was working. One day, Michael (my dad’s boss) proposed an idea: I could pick avocados and lemons from his trees, sell them in the neighborhood, and then we would split the profits 50/50.
I was a really shy kid. I mean, really shy. The type of kid that really didn’t say anything unless someone asked me a question. And even then, sometimes I would stay silent. One of the times when I was selling avocados, I remember being really confident. I’m not sure if it was because of a sale, or a customer, but I remember that feeling of confidence. This was the start.
In middle school, one of my best friends was an absolute shark. His #1 goal in life was to be a millionaire. On some days after school, we would go to the grocery store to buy cookies and then go door-to-door selling the cookies for a huge markup. We even recruited my friend’s little brother to help. Buy two cookies and my friend’s brother would put his leg behind his head: mostly everyone bought two.
I kept doing little entrepreneurial activities here and there but I was mostly pre-occupied with education and sports in high school and college. I followed a traditional path and had a great four years at an Ivy-League school. Just like many of my peers, I got a job at a bank on Wall St. It felt like the right thing to do after working so hard in school. However, I always had it in the back of my mind that I wanted to get back to entrepreneurship. When I was working in banking, my best friend and I would spend the weekends working on new ideas and thinking about startups. We started applying to accelerator programs, like YC and Techstars.
Then, one day, we got in. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity to live my dream. We found out we got into Techstars on Thursday night and by the following week, I had moved out of New York and into my new life in Denver. Techstars was the experience of a lifetime. I learned the fundamentals of startups, met hundreds of mentors, built out our team, and spent a lot of time figuring out what we were actually going to do. We were lucky enough to raise money from investors that believed in our vision. The company was called Challenger — we powered emergency savings programs for employers to offer to their employees. Kind of like a 401k, but for short term savings.
No matter how many times you sell avocados, nothing can really prepare you for running a company. There are so many twists and turns, highs and lows, and endless opportunities for growth. We ran the company for about 4 years until it was acquired by another Colorado company. After our exit, I knew that I wanted to help younger entrepreneurs so I founded a startup coaching business. While I love working directly with students to unlock the world of entrepreneurship for them, I wanted to scale the mission.
Sparx is the culmination of everything I’ve done and will evolve as I keep learning and growing as well. For me, that avocado stand when I was 4 years old was the spark that I needed that led me down the path of entrepreneurship. I want to spread entrepreneurship as a tool for empowerment. Whether your kid becomes a CEO one day, builds up some confidence, or just has a fun Saturday afternoon making some money, I know you’ll love Sparx.
I’m always available to chat at: gabe@sparx.ceo. I’d love to help support your kid (or you) on their entrepreneurship journey!
