When Weinberg freshman Brian Levin was 15 years old, he started his own hedge fund.
Levin is now a 19-year-old undergraduate entrepreneur – the president of his own company, BDL Capital Advisors; the director of a real estate development business his brother started in Mexico; and co-founder of a consumer finance business that trades and originates various classes of consumer loans.
“I started when I was 13 when I had my bar mitzvah,” the Weinberg freshman said. “My parents told me I could invest the money or they could invest it for me. When I was 15, I decided to expand and get investors from close family and friends. From there, (my business ventures) have continued to grow.”
Levin, who is studying economics, first traded in foreign currency because it’s “easy to access from a computer” and “didn’t require a lot of preliminary research.”
The self-made entrepreneur was able to get support from close family and friends, as his father and brother are involved in the business world.
“People saw I had a lot of success when I did it with my own money,” he said. “My father would always talk about me with his friends; then after that, it just grows on itself. When you have success, especially in finance, people want to know your rate of return.”
Lucy Millman, Business Institutions Program assistant director, said outside-the-box thinking sets young entrepreneurs, like Levin, apart.
“Entrepreneurs don’t accept the status quo, they’re always looking to make things better,” she said. “They’re the ones that say ‘Wait a minute, it doesn’t have to be like that.'”
For Levin, learning the ropes of business was more hands-on and outside the classroom.
“I learned what I do just from reading a ton and having contacts who are in various aspects of finance, so when I had a question I had a very large number of people I could contact,” he said.
Even though he only has a few years of experience in finance, gaining respect from business and trading partners has been a priority.
“When I meet with business partners or people I’m trading with, they don’t always know how young I am,” Levin said. “You have to earn respect – it doesn’t come when you step in the door.”
Northwestern Student Holdings Chief Executive Officer Louise Huterstein said although starting a business as a college student can carry a stigma, there are certain advantages.
“People like Brian, they change that stigma,” the Communication junior said. “It can be tough because you don’t have the legitimacy of someone who has been on Wall Street for 10 years, but you do bring something new to the table.”
Levin manages to juggle a full-time job, numerous financial ventures and his Northwestern classes.
“I really had to be flexible with my schedule,” he said. “Often times I had to stay up at night to trade products in Europe … it’s not as difficult in college as in high school.”
In his spare time, when Levin isn’t managing his financial duties and his studies, Levin enjoys traveling, especially to Thailand and Qatar.
“I love to travel and I’ve been fortunate to travel to over 60 countries – over the summer on the weekends – I always like to hop on a plane and go somewhere new.”
Levin aims to get his MBA, complete an economics masters program and eventually start a larger business.
“I’m hoping to establish an investment bank with a trading house with a private equity firm – maybe the next Goldman Sachs,” he said. “We’ll see.”
