Young teen primed for future in business


Joseph Rinaldi Reminder Publications submitted photo

March 19, 2012

By Matt Murphy

mmurphy@thereminder.com

LONGMEADOW — There are some people whose future can be seen over the course of a single conversation. Joseph Rinaldi is one of these people.

Rinaldi's future is undoubtedly in business. At age 14, he has already created two apps for the Apple store under his company ProJaxs Enterprises, a commercial for a local business, and a non-profit website, Longmeadowlost.org.

"I hope to one day own my own business, definitely something that has to do with technology, and the stock market, and finance," Rinaldi said.

For the past two summers, Rinaldi has attended Integrated Device Electronics (IDE) camps, the last of which took place at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. At these camps, Rinaldi learned how to program apps. He successfully put his training into practice.

"I signed on to Apple as a developer for $100 a year. They sell my apps for me, but I still own them. The apps are sold for 99 cents per app. Apple takes 29 cents, and I get 70 cents per app. I've sold 150 Squirrel Attack apps and 20 Pic-A-Day so far," Rinaldi said. "Right now, I am working on ideas for more apps, and I will develop them at another IDE camp this summer.

"The main thing I am focusing on right now is a website called Longmeadowlost.org. It is a website for people who lose their pets in or around town to go on and they can put on a picture of and information about their lost pet, without a fee, just like putting posters around," he continued. "Once it starts to get known, it will be kind of a more efficient lost poster. There's a bunch of different local businesses that sponsor it on the page."

Longmeadowlost.org is what Rinaldi calls the most important of all his endeavors, even though he is also heavily invested in other ventures such as http://aperturealliance.co.

"A group of friends and I have a website called aperturealliance.co. We make videos and movies, and in order to gain more money for our future endeavors, we went around to local businesses asking them if they would like us to make them a commercial, and Alta Moda Salon said they were interested," he explained.

Currently, Rinaldi and the Aperture Alliance are creating a commercial for his family's business, Rinaldi's, a restaurant in Longmeadow.

As vice president of his class and a freshman at Longmeadow High School, Rinaldi is eager for more challenges as a young entrepreneur.

Are you a young entrepreneur who would like to share your story of success? If so, email katelyn@thereminder.com.

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