“I learned the importance of bringing the customer the absolute most value you can whether it is in a product or service.”

Bryce Satterfield wanted to become an entrepreneur shortly after he turned 12 years old. His early efforts earned him a prestigious a $40,000 McKelvey Entrepreneurial Scholarship for his business and became recognized through an award as one of the top sixty young entrepreneurs of 2009 and in 2012.

Bryce impressively went onto launch 2 more successful businesses and then came up with the idea for Socialite, which is his first tech venture.

Socialite is a new app that allows you to see nearest Facebook friends while traveling and alerts you when you are near to them.

MO: You started your first business when you were just 12 years old. What early lessons did you learn about entrepreneurship and what made you want to keep going?

Bryce: I learned the importance of bringing the customer the absolute most value you can whether it is in a product or service. If you do this your customers will not only keep purchasing more, but they will also take over some of your marketing for you. I also learned that being an entrepreneur doesn’t come without drive. If you aren’t passionate about what you’re doing it will be easy to give up when times get tough. The best entrepreneurs are those that tackle challenges and use them to make themselves better leaders in the future.

MO: How did you come up with the concept of Socialite?

Bryce: The concept of Socialite came to me while I was traveling in Washington, DC. I am an avid traveler and I love meeting up with friends on the go. Over the few months before I started Socialite, I looked for something that would make this easy to do and came up empty handed. That is when I began developing Socialite. Socialite stays up to date with all your friends on Facebook and makes it easy to see who is nearby without giving up your privacy. Socialite also notifies users while traveling if they come near a friend so no opportunities to meet up are missed.

MO: Can you talk about the development process behind Socialite and any challenges you encountered along the way?

Bryce: The development process took about five months to get our first version launched. There were plenty of challenges along the way. The first struggle came with finding the right person to take care of our project. It was a very extensive project, so finding a person that we could trust to code the app was important. The challenges we faced had to do with juggling development, marketing strategies, filming a commercial, and taking care of other tasks simultaneously.

MO: Congratulations on your recent launch! How did you prepare for it and did everything go to plan?

Bryce: Thank you! Our launch went well and we were happy to see so many users joining Socialite. It was also great to see our fan base getting the word out there. A lot of work went into making the launch a success. We created a website, filmed a commercial, ran promotions on social media, lined up press, and much more to make sure the launch was a success. Everything went to plan, but we have a lot more work to do! The App Store is crowded so it is important to stand out right from the start.

MO: In fall 2012, you were recognized by President Barack Obama for meeting with his administration regarding business insights and youth perspectives. What were some of the highlights of such an unique experience?

Bryce: It was a great experience. I flew out to Washington, DC and met with hundreds of other chosen entrepreneurs under thirty years old. We spent the entire weekend networking and making connections. On one of the days we sat down with the President’s administration and brought our viewpoints to the table. Being in a room that created close to 8,000 jobs and over a billion in revenue was very humbling and also brought a lot of great feedback to the President’s administration.

MO: How will the first round of user feedback help influence the future and direction of Socialite?

Bryce: Right now we are in our first version of Socialite so feedback is more important than ever. Since launching we have many more projects to tackle and improvements to make. The feedback we receive shapes what Socialite will continue to evolve and become. Ratings, emails, and comments on Facebook have all brought us insights that we wouldn’t have even thought of ourselves so we are very thankful for that.

MO: Can you talk about how you manage to keep a work/life balance despite having to put in so much energy and time to creating a company from scratch, not to mention the other 3 companies you have under your belt? How do you keep from becoming overwhelmed?

Bryce: This is something I work really hard at. I just graduated and over the years I have really learned to focus with 21 credit load semesters and three businesses. By doing this I have learned a lot and it taught me that it can be done. I stay focused by dividing time up in the day to address different important areas. I also make sure that my priorities are set so the important things get done first. Most importantly for me, is keeping a balance so that personal life isn’t completely given up. For me personal life is an escape from work and rejuvenates me for the next day, so I make sure to set time aside for my personal life whether it is friends, family, or just getting outside.