<p><img src="https://static3.businessinsider.com/image/60633c7a67187800184ad48b-957/Screenshot 2021-03-30 at 15.57.23.png" border="0" alt="Andre Braun" data-mce-source="Instagram/derandrebraun" data-link="https://www.instagram.com/p/CKjfvS2hkGE/"></p><p></p><bi-shortcode id="summary-shortcode" data-type="summary-shortcode" class="mceNonEditable" contenteditable="false">Summary List Placement</bi-shortcode><p>At 18 years old, Frankfurt-based entrepreneur Andre Braun is forging a new path for himself.</p><p>In February 2020, he founded startup Plutus GmbH, with clients that include investment bank Morgan Stanley, according to <a href="https://www.faz.net/aktuell/rhein-main/frankfurt/unternehmer-mit-18-der-digitale-zauberer-17255519.html">Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung</a>.</p><p>Unsurprisingly, Braun and his 16-year-old best friend Marko Kraemer are two of the company's youngest employees.</p><p>The average age of the workforce is just 24, with 80 people employed in development and 20 in management.</p><p>It hasn't been an easy road for Braun, however, who spent a portion of his childhood in a children's home.</p><p>He moved to Wrzburg to live with his foster parents and they continually supported him in his entrepreneurial ambitionsfrom working as a magician to reselling garden gnomes he'd purchased at a discount store, Braun has been a determined entrepreneur from a young age.</p><p><img src="https://static4.businessinsider.com/image/5f63b1b3323fc4001e0d6f50-906/youtube-misinformation-video-removal-wrongful.jpg" border="0" alt="youtube misinformation video removal wrongful" data-mce-source="Mateusz Slodkowski/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images" data-mce-caption="YouTube admitted to mistakenly removing the wrong videos in its effort to curb COVID-19 misinformation."></p><p>He even recruited a sales team of friends to help him sell the gnomes door to door, but public order officers eventually intervened.</p><p>Later, he also branched out into making money through <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/most-popular-youtubers-with-most-subscribers-2018-2">YouTube videos</a>.</p><p>At 14, Braun founded the Fivee agency after obtaining permission from his parents, teachers, the guardianship court, and the Chamber of Industry and Commerce. His agency provided contacts with influencers and offered companies easy access to the Tiktok generation and he sold it for a large sum shortly after.</p><p>Instead of going for Germany's startup city of Berlin, Braun opted for the "city of business."</p><h2>Braun's goal is automation rather than digitization</h2><p>With Plutus, Braun didn't want to just create another <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-i-started-the-worlds-first-all-digital-model-agency-from-my-mothers-shed-2021-3">digital agency</a>; his aim was to pursue a "systems gastronomy" approach, in which fixed processes would be transferable from customer to customer and would be scalable.</p><p>Braun's goal is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/automation-efforts-accelerated-by-pandemic-will-displace-millions-of-jobs-2020-10">automation</a> rather than <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/future-of-insurance-digitization">digitization</a>. In the future, Plutus will offer online presences for companies free of charge and only charge money for additional services. Every cent earned will be reinvested in the company.</p><p>In Frankfurt, after just one year, Plutus is already well networked with the city's business development department, through which they developed the "MeineStadt.digital" learning platform.</p><p>Through the platform, local retailers can promote and sell their products and services via Instagram, YouTube, Tiktok, Google My Business, or Facebook. The company is a beacon of hope for the regional tech industry.</p><p>On his personal platforms like <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/derandrebraun/">LinkedIn</a>, Braun also shares the tips that helped him get to where he is.</p><p>The entrepreneur said it was important to connect with "people who have similar goals" and "people who are already where you want to be," because "you could become their successor one day."</p><p>In Braun's case, it looks like he's already there.</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/young-entrepreneur-business-independent-tech-digital-automation-startup-investment-employee-2021-3#comments">Join the conversation about this story »</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-gucci-clothes-racist-blackface-sambo-2019-2">Why these Gucci clothes are racist</a></p>
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