Jul 12, 2025
13-Year-Old Rejects 'Normal Kid Life' for AI Agent Empire
An interview with Michael Goldstein, Founder of Flowe AI
Founder Focused
While his classmates struggle with basic homework assignments, 13-year-old Michael Goldstein is building the future of artificial intelligence—and getting paid for it.
Meet the Toronto teenager behind Flowe AI, a general AI agent that can book flights, cancel subscriptions, and create presentations autonomously. At an age when most kids are figuring out algebra, Michael has built a product sophisticated enough to attract paying customers and earn him a spot at exclusive AI summits in Paris.
In this candid interview, Michael reveals how he overcame age-based skepticism to recruit developers, turned his birthday money into startup capital, and why he believes "build, build, build" trumps a "normal kid life." His story offers a glimpse into how the next generation views AI—not as a distant technology, but as an integral part of their daily reality.
Watch the full interview now on EO's YouTube channel! Below is the complete transcription of the interview. Minor edits have been made for clarity and readability.
Key Highlights:
"The school doesn't like AI. They don't really allow it technically, but what I think is over the past few years, there's been the rise of AI products."
"Over the past few months, I've been building something revolutionary, a general AI agent that actually gets things done from booking flights, to cancel subscriptions, to making presentations. Flowe can do it all."
"I reached out to multiple developers to ask if they wanted to help, and none of them really said yes. I don't know, probably because of my age and a bunch of other things. So I started building it myself."
"Someone else said I should do normal, a normal kid life. But what I think is just build, build, build, build."
"Over the past few months, I've been building something revolutionary, a general AI agent that actually gets things done from booking flights, to cancel subscriptions, to making presentations. Flowe can do it all."
"I reached out to multiple developers to ask if they wanted to help, and none of them really said yes. I don't know, probably because of my age and a bunch of other things. So I started building it myself."
"Someone else said I should do normal, a normal kid life. But what I think is just build, build, build, build."
The 13-Year-Old Behind the Revolution
Tell us about yourself and Flowe AI.
Michael: My name is Michael Goldstein. I'm 13 years old. I live in Toronto, Canada. I'm the founder of Flowe AI. Flowe AI is a general AI agent, so it's an agent that can do a wide variety of tasks, not only one certain thing.
So a couple of months ago I had the idea and I reached out to multiple developers to ask if they wanted to help, and none of them really said yes. I don't know, probably because of my age and a bunch of other things. So I started building it myself, using a bunch of AI tools to help.
I also do coding lessons now every week, so I can in the future do it myself with no help from anyone. Right now, I actually got a paying user.
So a couple of months ago I had the idea and I reached out to multiple developers to ask if they wanted to help, and none of them really said yes. I don't know, probably because of my age and a bunch of other things. So I started building it myself, using a bunch of AI tools to help.
I also do coding lessons now every week, so I can in the future do it myself with no help from anyone. Right now, I actually got a paying user.
Building Over Being Normal
How did your friends and family react to your entrepreneurial journey?
Michael: Someone else said I should do normal, a normal kid life. But what I think is just build, build, build, build. I have a group of friends, right, our little bubble, and we all kind of have a similar spirit for entrepreneurship.
So a project we did and still do more of is weather balloon launches, and those are really big balloons that go to 100,000 feet and then come back down. The first one was on CNN for the solar eclipse. We did it during there. I think it's fun to see it actually working.
So my friends, they know I have this spirit, so they weren't that surprised. And I think my family, I think it's the same. My family knows that I have this type of spirit. So I think they weren't surprised also when I launched it. They were very excited and happy, and I don't know if they expected it to work also.
So a project we did and still do more of is weather balloon launches, and those are really big balloons that go to 100,000 feet and then come back down. The first one was on CNN for the solar eclipse. We did it during there. I think it's fun to see it actually working.
So my friends, they know I have this spirit, so they weren't that surprised. And I think my family, I think it's the same. My family knows that I have this type of spirit. So I think they weren't surprised also when I launched it. They were very excited and happy, and I don't know if they expected it to work also.
The First Sale That Changed Everything
Tell us about your first paying customer.
Michael: I had extracted all the emails of users from Supabase, and I sent an email to everyone giving everyone a discount, and I woke up and I got a response from one person who was saying the code wasn't working. So I had to fix that glitch, and I responded, and then I got the message from Stripe. I got my first sale.
It happened when I was walking downstairs. So I was very excited. I told all my friends and family and parents. So I ran into my parents' room, like, 'I made it, yay.'
It happened when I was walking downstairs. So I was very excited. I told all my friends and family and parents. So I ran into my parents' room, like, 'I made it, yay.'
Age as Double-Edged Sword
What are the advantages and disadvantages of being so young in the startup world?
Michael: My experience has been good, I guess. Of course there's advantages, like when I posted the launch video, that did pretty well, and I bet my age was a factor of that. A lot of people are also more curious because I'm younger. So I think it opens up a lot more opportunities, like this interview, for example. I don't know if it would have happened if I was much older.
So a lot of opportunities open up when I'm younger, like Founders Inc. also, that's a very big accomplishment also. I'm the youngest accepted there also. I was invited to a summit in Paris, one of the top AI summits, so that was something that happened from the interview.
And the disadvantages are probably it's hard to get people to trust you also. So on top of the advantages, some people don't really trust me, for example, and I guess like I mentioned earlier, recruiting is really hard when you're much younger, because I have no capital, right? My birthday money, right? So I think that was the hardest part.
It took a couple of months before I could recruit two developers and one guy who helps with strategy. They actually reached out to me first, all three of them. They all reached out saying they're interested and they would love to help. I reached out to a lot of adults and mentors and all types of people to help, and a lot of that helped. So I think I have to give back to everyone, not just them, but everyone.
So a lot of opportunities open up when I'm younger, like Founders Inc. also, that's a very big accomplishment also. I'm the youngest accepted there also. I was invited to a summit in Paris, one of the top AI summits, so that was something that happened from the interview.
And the disadvantages are probably it's hard to get people to trust you also. So on top of the advantages, some people don't really trust me, for example, and I guess like I mentioned earlier, recruiting is really hard when you're much younger, because I have no capital, right? My birthday money, right? So I think that was the hardest part.
It took a couple of months before I could recruit two developers and one guy who helps with strategy. They actually reached out to me first, all three of them. They all reached out saying they're interested and they would love to help. I reached out to a lot of adults and mentors and all types of people to help, and a lot of that helped. So I think I have to give back to everyone, not just them, but everyone.
AI in Schools: The Underground Revolution
How do you and your peers at school view and use AI?
Michael: We're all interested in AI, we all use AI on a daily basis at school. I think not only my friends, I think everyone at school, all the kids now, use AI, so I think we're all interested in it, in terms of my friends and the school.
There's a lot of AI tools available, but I really think we only use one main one, which is ChatGPT. I think a lot of kids at school don't know about the other tools, and I think you have to be more involved in AI to know the other tools. So yeah, I think most of the school or the kids or my friends are using ChatGPT only, which is unfortunate.
Only recently really is when I really learned in depth about AI and how it works. And for the idea of Flowe, it came when I realized that there's a big gap and that there was something that wasn't being done, which is automated tasks. I think it can really help humans with efficiency, like my parents, for example, we all waste time filling out forms, but I think that's the biggest one, because there's not many platforms that are doing that, like Claude doesn't do that, or OpenAI. I think that's the biggest gap that there is, it's the browser automation.
There's a lot of AI tools available, but I really think we only use one main one, which is ChatGPT. I think a lot of kids at school don't know about the other tools, and I think you have to be more involved in AI to know the other tools. So yeah, I think most of the school or the kids or my friends are using ChatGPT only, which is unfortunate.
Only recently really is when I really learned in depth about AI and how it works. And for the idea of Flowe, it came when I realized that there's a big gap and that there was something that wasn't being done, which is automated tasks. I think it can really help humans with efficiency, like my parents, for example, we all waste time filling out forms, but I think that's the biggest one, because there's not many platforms that are doing that, like Claude doesn't do that, or OpenAI. I think that's the biggest gap that there is, it's the browser automation.
The Road to $10K MRR
What are your goals for Flowe AI's future?
Michael: So I think in general, by next year, I hope to have many more features in it, and I hope for it to be more smooth, of course, because there's many, many bugs still, which is going to be fixed over time. And I think in terms of more of the money type, I set a goal on Twitter for $10,000 in monthly recurring revenue. And that might take plenty of years. I'm not sure how long it will take, but I hope in a year we can get somewhere close to that.
So I hope Flowe AI is able to become part of everyone's life, almost, right? I think the goal is that it'll be able to do anything that can be automated, right? We get to see how AI evolves and that kind of stuff. I think the long term goal for me is in some way to help people. You know, give back almost.
So I hope Flowe AI is able to become part of everyone's life, almost, right? I think the goal is that it'll be able to do anything that can be automated, right? We get to see how AI evolves and that kind of stuff. I think the long term goal for me is in some way to help people. You know, give back almost.
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