There’s a certain energy in the air right now, isn’t there? That crisp, clear-sky feeling of a fresh start. It always makes me think about potential and new beginnings. Building on this energy of possibility, I was recently struck by a story about a young man who exemplifies this passion-driven journey: Nathaneo Johnson, a full-time Yale student who co-founded an AI-powered social network called Series and raised a staggering $3.1 million in funding. My first thought wasn’t about the money. It was, Wow—what an incredible burst of passion and focus! This reminds me of my daughter when she gets lost in her art projects for hours—that same focused fire. It’s the kind of story that doesn’t just make you look up; it makes you look around at your own kids and wonder about the little sparks of genius we see in them every single day.
Beyond the Likes: Building a World of Real Connections
Let’s be honest, we all worry about the world our kids are navigating online. It often feels like a race for followers and likes, a performance of curated perfection. What absolutely floors me about what Nathaneo Johnson and his co-founder, Sean Hargrow, are building with Series is that it’s designed to be the complete opposite. Their whole mission is to use powerful technology not to rack up followers, but to create “mutually valuable connections.” Yes—that’s it! It’s like they’re building a digital playground designed for genuine teamwork instead of just showing off.
Growing up with one foot in each culture, I know it takes just the right blend of traditions to nurture this kind of fire. Reading about how Series aims to connect student entrepreneurs makes me think about my daughter and her friends building elaborate worlds with magnetic tiles. They’re not just building structures; they’re negotiating, collaborating, and bringing a shared vision to life. What if we started seeing technology in the same light? Not as a passive screen, but as a new set of tiles—a tool for our kids to build connections, solve problems together, and find their team. It’s a shift from consuming content to creating community, and that feels like an incredibly hopeful future.
The 18-Hour Day and the Power of a Passion Project
Okay, when I first read that Nathaneo Johnson works 18-hour days, my dad-brain immediately flashed a warning light—burnout! But digging deeper, it’s not about glorifying an unhealthy grind. He channels the time other students might put into various extracurriculars directly into his startup. It’s not about working harder; it’s about working with an all-consuming, white-hot focus. It’s the fire of pure, undiluted passion.
We see this in our kids, don’t we? That moment when they’re so absorbed in a drawing, a LEGO creation, or a story they’re inventing that the rest of the world just melts away. That’s the zone! That’s the magic. Our job isn’t to schedule them into an 18-hour day of “passion practice.” Absolutely not! It’s to protect that space. It’s to celebrate that deep engagement, whether it lasts for 20 minutes or two hours. It’s about recognizing that the drive to build, create, and solve is the real treasure. Johnson saw a problem with networking and poured his energy into fixing it. Our kids might see a problem with a wobbly tower and pour their energy into making it stable. The scale is different, but the spark? It’s the exact same beautiful, powerful thing.
From Podcast to Platform: The Journey of an Idea
One of the most amazing parts of this story is how Series started. It didn’t just appear fully formed. It grew out of a podcast Johnson and Hargrow developed, which then evolved into a chatbot, and finally into the platform it is today. It was a journey of iteration, of trying something, learning, and building on it. They weren’t afraid to start small and let the idea grow. This is everything!
It reminds me that we don’t need to hand our kids a perfect, finished plan. We just need to encourage them to take that first, tiny step. Got an idea for a comic book? Awesome, let’s just draw the first panel! Want to build a robot? Cool, what if we start by seeing how a simple circuit works? We can nurture this mindset by celebrating the process, not just the final product. The real learning happens in the messy middle—the trial and error, the pivots, the “what if we tried this instead?” moments. Johnson and Hargrow’s journey shows that the biggest ventures often start with a simple conversation, a small experiment. It’s a powerful lesson in giving our kids the freedom to just… start.
The Real Pre-Seed Funding We Give Our Kids
Reading about how Nathaneo Johnson and Sean Hargrow raised $3.1 million in just 14 days is jaw-dropping. But as parents, it got me thinking about a different kind of funding—the kind that can’t be measured in dollars. It’s the “pre-seed” investment we make in our children every single day.
It’s the funding of curiosity when we answer their millionth “why?” question with enthusiasm. It’s the funding of resilience when we help them navigate a disagreement with a friend at the playground and encourage them to try again. It’s the funding of confidence when we cheer for their wonderfully weird ideas. Nathaneo Johnson mentioned that he’s been building things since he was a kid. That inventive spirit didn’t just appear at Yale; it was surely nurtured long before.
We are their first investors. The belief we pour into them, the safe space we provide for them to fail and get back up, the encouragement to chase what makes their heart beat faster—that’s the most valuable capital they will ever receive. It’s what builds the foundation for them to one day walk out of a meeting, like Johnson did, feeling like they can take on the world. Not because of a signed deal, but because they’ve been championed all their lives. What small act of “pre-seeding” will you nourish in your child today? The combined power of these moments creates a future that can’t be measured in dollars—and that’s a return on investment that is truly priceless.
Source: I raised $3 million for my AI startup as a full-time Yale student. Here’s how I manage my time so I can do both., Business Insider, 2025/09/06 09:33:01