19-Year-Old Co-Founder Grows AI Startup to 54 Employees

When Neil Senturia called a 19-year-old programmer halfway across the world with a wild idea, neither knew they were about to create something extraordinary. The young genius, who we'll call Sam, had to choose between the safety of continuing his education or dancing with entrepreneurship alongside a stranger 8,000 miles away.

He chose the dance. Eighteen months later, their AI company askturing.ai employs 54 people.

Sam recently wrote about a truth most founders never talk about: the strange grief that comes with success. His unedited words paint a picture anyone who's built something from scratch will recognize.

"Seeing your startup grow is a lot like raising a kid," Sam wrote. In those early days, he knew every customer by name, answered support emails with half-open eyes, and shipped code at 2 a.m. The company felt like an extension of his nervous system.

Then everything changed. The people he hired started making good decisions without him. Processes existed that he didn't personally create. Some customers had no idea who he was, and that became normal.

"You're still important, but you're no longer the center holding everything together," Sam explained. On paper, it's the dream. It means you've built real teams, systems, and culture that don't crumble when you take a day off.

Why This Inspires

Sam's honesty cuts through the usual startup success stories. He admits missing the chaos where he was needed for everything, even though it nearly broke him. He scrolls back through old screenshots and the first logo, feeling that small ache for the tiny, fragile thing that once depended entirely on him.

But sitting next to that nostalgia is something bigger: genuine pride in watching his creation walk on its own. "You outgrew a version of yourself you'll never fully return to, and that hurts a little, but it also feels right," he wrote.

The young founder is now heading back to school while continuing to work at the company part time. His perspective on the reduced hours? "Forty hours is a no-brainer after I have been working 80."

Sam's journey from teenager to co-founder shows what happens when someone believes in you enough to offer equity and partnership instead of just a paycheck. It's a story about taking wild leaps, growing faster than you thought possible, and learning to let go of what you built so it can become even more.

The mountain Sam conquered wasn't just building a company—it was becoming the person capable of building it, then trusting others to carry it forward.