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Teenage Entrepreneur Squatted in AOL Offices

Eric Simons turned AOL campus into his personal office

By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff

Posted May 26, 2012 2:09 PM CDT

(Newser) – A teenage entrepreneur found the perfect place to develop his new software: AOL's campus in Palo Alto, Calif. Only problem: No one knew he was also eating, sleeping, working out, and doing his laundry there, CNET reports. Eric Simons had invented his educational software, ClassConnect, in a new campus "incubator" program called Imagine K12. But when his money ran out, Eric figured he'd see if his campus security access still worked. And it did.

So he set up a routine: working until late, sleeping on the office sofa, and getting up in time to exercise and wolf down something in the office kitchen. Then, one morning, he woke up to find the office security guard bawling him out. Busted, Eric left, found startup money for his software, and rented out a house. He still goes to the campus for meetings, he says, but "when I'm there, I beeline for the Imagine K12 office, and when I'm done, I beeline straight for the door."

The AOL sign in front of the AOL Inc. offices in Palo Alto, Calif.
The AOL sign in front of the AOL Inc. offices in Palo Alto, Calif.   (Getty Images)
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COMMENTS
Showing 1 of 1 comment
kingoftheghosts
May 27, 2012 11:16 AM CDT
What do you mean by "bawling him out"? I haven't heard that one before. 
 

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