Given how difficult entrepreneurship can be, it’s always intriguing to hear about youngsters striking out on their own. It’s quite rare for teenage entrepreneurs to thrive right away. Their early ventures tend to serve more as sources of experience and skill-building than as bottom-line success stories. A noteworthy exception to this rule, however, is 17 year old Daniel Brusilovsky. Despite his young age, Brusilovsky has already established himself as a writer for TechCrunch and a two-time startup founder. While his peers are partying and tackling the normal challenges of adolescence, Daniel is making a name for himself as a legitimate Silicon Valley businessman with a bright future in the tech world.

Today, Grasshopper examines the rise, ventures and young career of Daniel Brusilovsky.

The Early Days & Teens in Tech Networks

Daniel BrusilovskyLike many young entrepreneurs, Daniel was inspired early on by a successful figure whom he idolized and strove to emulate. In his case, it was podcasting trailblazer and This WEEK in TECH mastermind Leo Laporte. As Brusilovsky revealed in an interview with PersonalBrandingBlog.com, Laporte’s engaging tech-related podcasts motivated him to explore more of what social media and the “Web 2.0″ landscape had to offer. Daniel was no doubt encouraged by several face-to-face meetings with Laporte, and the two are pictured above at an industry conference. Before long, he began running his own podcast in February 2007 called Apple Universe. Today, Apple Universe remains one of the most popular Apple-themed podcasts on the web.

After dabbling in websites like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace and studying technology startups in general, Daniel started his first company: Teens in Tech Networks.

Founded in February 2008 (when Daniel was just 15), Teens in Tech Networks was envisioned as a way for other young tech minds to publish their own content and collaborate with others. The company’s flagship offering is Teens in Tech, a “media platform and community for teenagers to post their media content online.” Under Brusilovsky’s leadership, the company acquired the competing Youth Bloggers Network in March 2009. By July 2009, the network had grown to three websites and over 1,000 users. Additionally, Teens in Tech Networks sponsors the annual Teens in Tech Conference, where up and coming teen founders can network and swap ideas. Daniel served as CEO of Teens in Tech until April 2010, when he amicably stepped down to head up his latest venture.

TechCrunch & iPad Case Finder

DB-TechCrunchIn June 2009 (while still running Teens in Tech Networks), Daniel Brusilovsky revealed on his blog that he was joining TechCrunch as a blogger and business development strategist. As Daniel explained, he had already been working from TechCrunch’s Palo Alto office on Teens in Tech as well as Qik, a video startup for whom he served as a Special Projects Team Leader. While Daniel described his time at TechCrunch as “a lot of fun” and something he had long wanted to do, it appears that Michael Arrington might have some regrets about bringing Brusilovsky aboard. On February 5 2010, VentureBeat reported that Daniel had been fired from his internship amidst allegations that he requested a Macbook Air from a startup who wanted a TechCrunch blog post written about them.

To his credit, Daniel claims that he neither received the Macbook nor wrote the post in question. Nonetheless, he has vowed to learn from the payola scandal and move forward to the “next learning stage.” In May 2010, he founded iPad Case Finder, a web service that offers hi-resolution photos, descriptions and reviews of iPad cases and strives to find iPad owners the right case for them. According to the company website, Brusilovsky was “overwhelmed by the feedback and reaction to the launch of iPad Case Finder” and case makers seem eager to get their products featured on the website. With the learning experiences of Teen in Tech Networks and his up and down tenure at TechCrunch behind him, it remains to be seen how far iPad Case Finder will go.

Daniel’s Advice For Aspiring Young Entrepreneurs

DB-AdviceIn his interview with PersonalBrandingBlog.com, Brusilovsky was asked what advice he would offer to other young entrepreneurs with high aspirations. His answers were:

Daniel re-affirmed the importance of these qualities in another interview, this one with Beatweek.com. When asked how he manages to give equally high focus to high school and entrepreneurship, Brusilovsky replied:

“I think the best way that I’ve learned to juggle all of my work and school is find my priorities, and just go with it. I’ve had numerous times where all I’ve wanted to do after school is go to my laptop, and work, but I’ve had to do homework instead which is number one.”

Another indicator of how important persistence has been to Daniel’s success is the fact that, as Y Combinator states, he “doesn’t really have any technical background.” Rather, Daniel broke into the tech world solely on the strength of his own interest, experiments and projects with other founders young and old.

Keeping Tabs

Those interested in following the exciting (and, at times, controversial) young man are advised to do so below: