'A Car For Me? No, For Mom'

The Splurge is our monthly column about entrepreneurs’ first big gift to themselves—because hard work deserves its rewards. This month: thanking a very valuable employee.

- Joe Keohane

Jake Kassan started his first business in high school: a T-shirt company he grew through YouTube and social media channels. It went…a little too well. “I was generating $10,000-plus a week,” he says, “and I needed help.” He was just 16, after all, and he was falling behind on shipping, accounting—the whole operations side. Luckily, he found the perfect person. She lacked business experience, but she was a quick study, a hard worker, and unusually loyal. Plus, she worked for free.

She was his mother, Marla.