Creating a Sneaker Empire: Journey of a Teenage Entrepreneur

Who comes to mind when you think about serial entrepreneurs? Perhaps we think of graduate students in business school pitch competitions, or mid-career professionals in incubator programs, refining their products to scale up and secure venture capital. At Prep for Prep, you’ll find teenage entrepreneur Brandon K. (XXXVII), charting his own path with a budding sneaker empire. 

Brandon is the Co-Founder & CFO of CookoutV2 LLC, a sneaker resale firm that develops and utilizes exclusive scripts and programs on limited items for the benefit of its investors. He founded the company with three friends in high school—Rowan, Michael, and Jonathan—through a shared love of sneakers, basketball, and fashion. The idea started when one friend won a raffle for several pairs of limited edition sneakers. The self-proclaimed sneakerheads then discovered that the resale market had gone from an underground phenomenon into big business: in 2019, the U.S. sneaker resale market alone was estimated at $2 billion and the global resale market at $6 billion. 

How will they turn a passionate idea into a viable business model? Berkeley Carroll’s Spring Intensives, co-curriculars, and math curriculum were part of that toolbox for entrepreneurship. Brandon’s participation in Google Code Next through Prep for Prep to learn tech skills and coding principles were also important. Securing investors was another necessary, and unexpected, bonus through Prep. At a Packer vs. Berkeley Carroll basketball game, Prep Trustee Trevor Price happened to be next to Brandon and they bantered about their schools’ friendly rivalry. The conversation quickly turned to sneaker resales, entrepreneurship, and their Prep connection. As one of the champions of entrepreneurship at Prep, and Founder & CEO of Oxeon Holdings, Trevor offered to continue the conversation with Brandon and his team beyond the game. Eventually, he invested in their company to help scale their ability to purchase and liquidate merchandise. CookoutV2 proudly donates 30% of their profits to Prep for Prep. “It makes a lot of sense for us to do this,” said Brandon, “because I want to give back to where I started from.”