When a deal goes down in a high school bathroom, it’s usually for drugs; not a $20 million startup fund. But for teen-tech-titan Eric Zhu, whose father received a call from his principal to say he’d been skipping class for ‘business meetings’ in the bathroom, it was just another day in the office.


A few days ago, the Twitter account @kidchocolate12 asked people to share a conversation they’d had with their parents. The prompt tweet went viral, racking up 74.7 million views, and collecting some fantastic screenshots of awkward family texts. But none came close to a message Eric received from his dad.




Eric is the co-founder of Aviato, a search engine for other startups, but unlike other high school students who skip class to smoke weed; he skips for million-dollar deals. From his corner stall, he’s proposed pitches to other entrepreneurs, conducted a Facetime interview with @KingzTheCreator, and virtually attended an A.I. conference.




Unfortunately, neither the principal nor his dad seems thrilled about it, but we think they’ll get over it. “On the other side of that phone he’s def so proud of you though,” @randomrecruiter commented.


Eric likes to joke that his parents still expect him to go to med school, but he doesn’t see it in the cards for his future.


“Investing $10 million in deepfake technology to convince my mom I’m at med school,” he joked.



Working from the bathroom has become part of Eric’s brand, and he doesn’t hesitate to share pictures.




For a high school student who’s worth $20 million, life can’t be too hard. Just imagine what it feels like to give a kid worth more than the entire district's yearly budget detention.