From Chatbots to Change Agents: 12-year-old Arjun Sharda’s Entrepreneurial Evolution

Jackie - 00:00:10:

Welcome to season 10 of Diversity Beyond the Checkbox, proudly presented by the the Diversity Movement and part of the Living Corporate Network. I'm your host, Jackie Ferguson author, business leader, and human rights advocate. In this podcast, we're diving deep into the stories of trailblazers, game changers, and glass ceiling breakers who share insights and professional success and personal development. Thank you for being part of this amazing community. Enjoy the show. Thank you for tuning in to Diversity Beyond the Checkbox podcast. You are in for a treat, everyone. I'm joined by Arjun Sharda. 12-year-old entrepreneur, speaker, author, and programmer. Arjun, thank you so much for being here today.

Arjun - 00:00:58:

Mitch Ferguson, it's an honor to be on your podcast. You know, it's really surreal to be on a podcast at 12 years old. So first of all, thank you. I'm thankful to you.

Jackie - 00:01:09:

Well, thank you for being here. I'm so excited to get to talk to you and learn a little bit more about you. So Arjun, will you tell us a little about how you started in business? You started with programming, is that right?

Arjun - 00:01:21:

Yes. Yeah, so when I was seven or eight, I used to play Roblox like any other kid.

Jackie - 00:01:28:

Yeah.

Arjun - 00:01:28:

I used to code in Roblox Studio. It's a editor where you get to build games on the platform. And I used to program in the language Lua, which Roblox Studio uses. I always wondered, how do you make Roblox.com? How do I make these websites that I use on a day-to-day basis? I mean, there's definitely a way you have to make this, right? How do I make these types of websites? So Afterwards, at the age of nine, I started... Diving deep into this, I started looking at tutorials on YouTube about how to make Discord chatbots. And I found it pretty interesting. I started with Python and I started programming these bots. And it was originally just basic code and it started getting more advanced. And I thought it was really fun. I started making more of these, continuing on to JavaScript. And I found it to be really, really interesting and really, really cool, making things that automatically respond. And it could be of much essence to members of servers on the Discord platform. So I started making more projects, more chatbots in JavaScript as well. And at the age of 10, I founded my own small nonprofit as well. It was called Making Bots Fun. It was about making these type of chatbots. And I found it to be really interesting. It was my first experience being a leader of a team that's international and some people even older than me. So it was really interesting. We started making these bots, publishing it on open source platforms like GitHub. It's still available, by the way. I keep it as an honor. I started posting this stuff and it started picking up. It started being used by hundreds of members. And afterwards, I actually kind of quit it because of school tensions and stuff. Like I started getting more busy. You know, as you get older, there's more work and assignments. But I learned so many valuable lessons from that. And I wanted to do something in business, you know, leading people, having the potential to change the world with a product. You know, Steve Jobs, he changed the world with the Apple company. You know, this iPhone right now that I'm holding, this is by Apple. We have AI and everything. Advance is such a peak because of Steve Jobs. And I wanted to do something similar. I take him as an inspiration for that. I want to do something similar with AI and robotics in the future.

Jackie - 00:04:14:

That's amazing, Arjun. Well, certainly the rest of us are inspired by you. So thank you again for being here. Will you tell us a little bit about your current company? There's an acronym that stands for Technology, Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Engineering, and Mathematics. Tell us about your current company.

Arjun - 00:04:33:

Yeah, definitely. So we are a nonprofit that, as you already said before, we advance education in the TLEEM acronym, which is Tech, Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Engineering, and Mathematics. So we host many programs. One of ours is a chapters program, which aims to deploy school and community clubs around the world. And one is a youth advisory board program, which is a program for ages 10 to 18, where they get to collaborate with TLEEM in a one-year virtual program, learn valuable skills that are needed. And as well as network with other people who have such interests like them. The reason I made TLEEM, it has a reason actually. So I actually used to attend Running Brushy Middle School in Leander, Texas. I used to attend it. I was a new student. Saw that there was a lack of clubs in my school. There were many just for chess club and many other things, but nothing that would be of my interest. At that time, I had interest in tech, leadership and entrepreneurship, of course, a bit of engineering. I actually used to attend an engineering class and a little bit of mathematics as well, where I used to attend a Pace Math, which is a gifted program where I learned Algebra 1 or 8th grade math instead of 7th grade. So from there, I had this idea because I wanted to make a club because there weren't any clubs. You know, there are so many passionate people. I know even in sixth grade that time, I knew a lot of people who were passionate about like the fields, but they didn't have these resources. And what happens when you don't have resources? You often give up. And that's the harsh reality. So I made the first club. It was originally called TLEEM, of course. And all was going well. It started in September unofficially with a few friends. Unfortunately, though, in late October, I had to move to Round Rock, Texas. So what happened there is that I had to start running the club virtually and remotely. So with the help of my mom, of course, she helped me. She's a caring mother, of course. I filed with the Texas Secretary of State for nonprofit status on October 29th, I believe. After that, I started posting on these online forums about TLEEM. Like, hey, we are a non-profit. We have this mission. And... It started getting attention. We started getting people interested who wanted to collaborate and work with us. And on November 14th, 2023, we registered with the IRS. We filed with it. On November 27th, 2023, we first went international actually. So like that's within one month. Things started going up from there. I started attending virtual school because I felt that it's more flexible. I'm able to scale to lean further with having more assignments that are flexible. And it started growing from there. We've spoken to about 400 people in person so far. We have six chapters in three countries. And we've been featured in even in the biggest news organization in our city, which is KXAN. And many news organizations, and we are scaling and growing very fast, even right now.

Jackie - 00:08:05:

That's amazing, Arjun. That's so exciting. Arjun, you've also written a book, The Salesperson's Direction to Clients. Will you tell us a little about that?

Arjun - 00:08:17:

Sure, sure. So I wrote the book, The Salesperson's Direction to Clients. The reason I wrote it was I was actually analyzing the sales data. Of companies like Apple, Google, and Samsung. I saw from the sales data, why does Apple get more sales? It's like almost $1,000, but why do we still buy it every single year? What's the hype behind it? Google or Samsung, it possibly has better technical specifications. Some of the companies, its competitors are even better in technical specifications. But why do we buy Apple every single year? Although other companies are cheaper and are from technical wise, they are better. And I started researching about this and I saw that it was mostly about design and marketing. Steve Jobs, he didn't necessarily make Apple's iPhone itself. He was a salesperson. He made Apple grow so big. Steve Wozniak probably did the hardware, but Steve Jobs did the sales. He was the person. Who got us all to buy Apple products every single year. And that's the reason that they are a trillion dollar company now. And I wrote about this in a short book because oftentimes companies might have a great product, but if they don't have great design, great convenience, then people won't buy their products. And it's not that they are wrong. It's just that their techniques need to be improved, especially in this generation.

Jackie - 00:09:50:

I love that, Arjun. One of the things that I'm discovering just in this conversation is how you ask so many questions. You're very contemplative. You're asking why, you're asking what if, and that's amazing. What gave you the confidence to start your own business, Arjun, at such a young age?

Arjun - 00:10:09:

First of all, Ms. Ferguson, I appreciate those kind words again. I started a business at a young age. The reason why is everyone around me makes businesses. I live in Austin myself. It's a tech city. It makes me always question stuff, like what if I make something that changed the world? It makes me really happy if I can. I would be at peace when I die, when I pass away. It would make me at peace that I have made a dance in this world because I want to do something that people can use, that can be convenient, and that companies and people can rely on. I've wanted to always get in business, at a young age, because I see that. You know, at a young age, we're creative. We're thought of as creative. We young people are thought of as creative. But why don't we use that to our potential? You know? Why don't we have those opportunities and use them to our potential? It's never too late or never too early. It's just about when you do it. Because a lot of people have a lot of potential, trust me. I know a lot of people, even who have more potential than me, it's just about using it, doing it. Because we all die at one point. It's about taking chances, taking risks. This quote is a ripoff I made based on risk it for the biscuit. I made it as risk it for the big thing. Because you never go big without risking.

Jackie - 00:11:33:

Arjun, that's amazing advice and advice that so many of us need. So thank you for sharing that. Arjun, tell us more about your life outside of your work. Can you talk to us about school and what do you do when you're not working?

Arjun - 00:11:48:

Sure. When I'm not working on TLEEM or one of my projects, what I do is listen to music. I do swimming as well. I also, I mean, of course, sleep for 10 hours. And school-wise, I mean, I do my stuff. I feel like school is, I mean, it's great. It keeps you at pace. You get to do, you get to learn the core stuff. And if you combine that with flexibility to make your own business and stuff. I mean, it's a power. It's like a special thing. Outside of work, though, I do that stuff. I also like writing as well.

Jackie - 00:12:30:

Okay.

Arjun - 00:12:31:

I like writing some articles as well. I have my own blog as well. I like writing. I mean, it expresses yourself. My handwriting is bad, but I love writing. I love writing online. It really expresses yourself. You get to have your own. Share on. The current stuff in the world. And I think that This country is a democracy. And being able to share your opinions and stuff, first of all, I'm grateful for it. And second of all, it's a power. You know, writing, it expresses yourself. It gives you an ability to reflect. And even in the worst of times. I mean, it's a great power.

Jackie - 00:13:09:

That's fantastic. Arjun, so many of us adults have a tough time finding the right work-life balance. How do you balance being a kid and going to school with being an entrepreneur and writing a book and having all of these additional projects? How do you make it all work for yourself?

Arjun - 00:13:30:

Great question, Ms. Ferguson. I think this is a question that not a lot of people, you know, get the answer to, you know, a lot of people are stressed out, especially right now. I think that the best way to strike a balance is having a schedule. You know, a lot of people procrastinate and that's the thing that I find a lots of people sticking to your schedule is when you can, you can have fun as well. And you can also do serious stuff. You know, in my schedule, I'm able to do school, do cool stuff like TLEEM, work on TLEEM, play video games as well and sleep for a good amount of time, like 10 hours. And it's about striking a balance and not procrastinating. If you train your brain to not procrastinate and follow a schedule and tell your brain that, hey, if I follow this schedule, it's going to be of benefit to me. Like I can, have fun later. It's about that. And that's what you need to set a schedule to have that because that's where you strike a balance.

Jackie - 00:14:32:

That's great advice, Arjun. I think a lot of us waste a lot of time in the day because we don't have that schedule that we're adhering to. And I think that's really good advice. Thank you for that.

Arjun - 00:14:44:

You're completely right, Ms. Ferguson, especially in this generation, you know, YouTube shorts, TikTok and everything. You know, I'm part of Gen Alpha myself and I can confirm like there is a addiction to social media. It's causing us to procrastinate more than ever.

Jackie - 00:14:59:

Yeah, I totally agree with that. Arjun, you talked about risk it for the big thing. What can we learn from you about trying new things and taking risks?

Arjun - 00:15:10:

Yeah, great question again, Ms. Ferguson. I really appreciate that. It's about taking risks. I know it sounds like I'm saying it generically, but it's about like, hey, we have, the average person has 80 years in their life, right? 80, 84 years. We need to make use of that time, you know? Spend time with family, spend time with everybody, you know? It's about taking these risks. If you don't take a risk now, when will you take it? We are aging every single day. You never grow without taking risks. When we were born, we had a chance to die from an infection. We take risks that we don't even know we are taking. And that's the thing that we have to acknowledge, that if we can take these risks, we can even take bigger risks. Of course, don't gamble your money, but, you know, take calculated risks. It's never too late or never too early. And, you know, I think that's what we're doing. It's find a motivation and use that and take risks.

Jackie - 00:16:13:

I love that, Arjun. And I love that you've said it's never too late and never too early. I think that is fantastic. Thank you for that. Arjun, you were the youngest speaker ever at Developer Week in San Francisco last August. Is it scary to do public speaking? How was that experience for you?

Arjun - 00:16:34:

For sure. I love public speaking, but it does make me nervous. I know a lot of people are nervous as well. It's like being a young speaker, it definitely was my first time ever speaking in front of people. It does definitely make me nervous, but it's about taking away those vulnerabilities. What's going to happen? What can happen? What if I fumble? It's about doing the real thing. You could just pretend that you're not speaking. You're just speaking to your friends and pretend that. You can do that to a whole audience. I'm honestly never scared of public speaking. I'm just scared if I fumble, honestly.

Jackie - 00:17:14:

Right. I think that's all of our fear. I will tell you, Arshan, when I first started doing public speaking, I was terrified. I just started doing public speaking at 45. I commend you because that's something that so many of us are afraid to do, but you're right. Think about a group of friends. And then don't be afraid to fumble a little bit. That's okay. And people give you a lot more grace than you think when you do that. So I think that's amazing that you are the youngest ever speaker at Developer Week. That's fantastic. Just to note, you are also the youngest podcast guest that I have ever had.

Arjun - 00:17:56:

Really? That's an honor, Ms. Ferguson. That's an honor.

Jackie - 00:17:59:

Arjun, you're doing so many incredible, amazing things. What's next for you? What's on your aspiration list? What's next?

Arjun - 00:18:09:

Yeah, great question. You know, of course, I want to speak more about these type of issues. You know, in our generation, I feel like our generation is getting lazier and lazier. You know, using YouTube shorts, TikTok, we are losing like a lot of time on this stuff. We have to focus more on, you know, doing stuff because the innovation rate will decline. It will skyrocket down if we don't actually take this stuff seriously. Like AI is making us all lazy. ChatGPT, BARD, it's all making us lazier. It's not going to help us with innovation at all. And I also want to, for TLEEM, expand it to more countries. I think that having these type of clubs, especially in middle and elementary school, they're going to be of much help to people who actually want to. Follow their passion. And next, maybe in the next, I mean, few years or months, maybe an AI startup, you know, or AI plus robotics. I've always wanted to integrate AI and robotics, you know, as per my generation. I've seen Steve Jobs do it with tech. And I want to do something similar. You know, it makes me happy if I can make a product that's used by everybody and make a product that has a like a use, a purpose that can make everybody's lives easier. Now, that's that's one of the things I want to accomplish. And I'm not sure if I will do it right now because of time commitments and many other things. But I am looking forward to it in the future for sure.

Jackie - 00:19:40:

That's amazing. Arjun, tell us what's the message that you want to leave with our listeners today?

Arjun - 00:19:48:

Thank you again for this opportunity to speak on the podcast. I'm really thankful. The message I want to leave, I have a couple, but one is take risks because I feel like a lot of us don't take risks. We lose out on our life. It makes me sad that we have a lot of people who have a potential in this nation, but they don't take those risks, especially even near my age. And the second one is that, you know, find a motivation source, whether it's music, whether it's video games, whether it's arts, you have to have a place where you vent. Come on. We all have a source for that. Like I play video games after all of my day, after the end of the day. It's something that we need to take to vent out because otherwise we get really stressed out and it's completely fine to take breaks. But it's just about taking. Like taking like a good amount of break, a good amount of time, not too much and not too less.

Jackie - 00:20:48:

Got it.

Arjun - 00:20:49:

Finding a balance.

Jackie - 00:20:50:

Such good advice, Arjun. Thank you for that. How can listeners learn more about you and learn more about TLEEM?

Arjun - 00:20:58:

Yeah, sure. You can find more about me on my LinkedIn or my website. For TLEEM, you can find more about us on tleem.org. It's our websites. We post and have a lot of stuff, especially on our LinkedIn, our TLEEM's LinkedIn. So that's where they can find updates about TLEEM. Those are our major places where we have our stuff.

Jackie - 00:21:21:

Arjun, thank you so much for this conversation. You are such an inspiration, not only to young people, but to the rest of us. And your advice has been amazing. Thank you for taking some time with me today.

Arjun - 00:21:34:

And thank you, Ms. Ferguson, again for the opportunity. You know, everybody has ideas, but not everyone's able to express them. So I really thank you for the opportunity.

Jackie - 00:21:46:

Thanks for listening to this episode of Diversity Beyond the Checkbox. If you loved this show, please take a moment to share it with a friend, leave a rating and review, and subscribe so you'll be reminded when new episodes are released. Become part of our community on Instagram, LinkedIn. X, YouTube, and TikTok, or subscribe to our newsletter at beyondthecheckbox.com. This show is part of the Living Corporate Network, sponsored by the The Diversity Movement, and edited and produced by EarFluence. I'm Jackie Ferguson. Take care of yourself and each other.