What is this?
thecanoe is the portfolio & weblog of Tim Williams, a serial entrepreneur and creative thinker. It includes, but is not limited to; business, products, start-ups, social engineering, and life.
Tim Williams is a natural born entrepreneur who started more than five companies by the age of nineteen. Based in Huntsville, Alabama, he currently spends his time working in his startup company Hatch, Inc., and works for clients around the world on creative projects, ventures, and ideas. His spare time is spent being outside, traveling, and canoeing.
Work began at the age of fourteen, as a freshman in high school. It all sparked as an idea called “Lucky Joes,” which was a batch of printed tee shirts and a website. The t-shirts were sold in school and on the internet for $15.00 and an entry to win $500.00 on July 4th later that year. Revenues were over $1,000 split between the Tim and his partner. The total expenses were $200.00 for the creation of the shirts, and a few hours to develop the website. One thing lead to another – the first company was born a few months later, named Tab Creations.
As a junior and senior in high school, Tim was in co-op, but working for who? His own company, Tab Creations, which at the time offered basic graphics design and website development. TC’s list of clients ranged from local small businesses to large corporations seeking outsource companies for fulfillment. So, at 12pm every day he left school to work, but where was “work”?
At age sixteen, he had his first office located in an upscale office and shopping village in south Huntsville.
The only sixteen-year-old leasee in the building
After a year in the office, he moved to a more suitable location found on the second floor of The Times Building, located in downtown Huntsville. Tim Williams was the only student in northern Alabama to be self-employed in co-op class.
The only seventeen-year-old leasee in the building
All throughout high school, Tim created opportunities for himself relentlessly and started a handful of small companies. The companies were of all types ranging from industrial surface cleaning to internet safety monitoring. Some of the business ideas were tackled solo while others were done with partners. Tim was between the ages of 15-18, while he obtained serious business relationships with partners ages 30 and up. It is quite amazing that serious business professionals saw enough potential and skill to engage in real business with such a young entrepreneur.
The great ideas and projects that Tim had accomplished at such a young age were all “bootsrapped,” meaning the companies were started with zero or little upfront investment. The companies were started with tons of creativity, ingenuity, and pure entrepreneurial ability.
Why is it called “thecanoe?”
It’s kind of like being smart enough to take an old canoe with a hole in the bottom of it upstream without a paddle, through the valley and up the waterfall – then turning around and making it all the way to the ocean. It seems complicated, but that’s why they make entrepreneurs – to figure this stuff out.