Young, Lost & Leaderless Making & Losing a Million Dollars by 25

What it’s really like trying to find yourself and build a career in your twenties while working for a newsstand-worthy bad boss.

By the age of 27, Nick Bennett had lived multiple professional lives. From working on oil rigs in the North Sea to diving off tropical reefs while in the Royal Australian Navy, launching a video-technology start-up into the USA—reaching almost a billion-dollar valuation, to the one his mother hates most of all—stripper. He’s now cemented himself as an entrepreneur in both the tech and media space and has been an advisor to more than a dozen start-ups.

From the middle of nowhere in Australia to Los Angeles, California, Nick’s path has been filled with twists and turns. Yet, through the successes, and more importantly the failures, he realized there is a disconnect between the advice given to young professionals and the advice needed to build a career in the modern business world.

Young, Lost & Leaderless is the story of what he’s learned while making and losing a million dollars by the age of 25. It’s a how-to, a how-not-to and above all a motivating guide to empower young professionals to try new things and take risks, regardless of the outcomes, because every misadventure is worth taking, even if just for the stories one gains.

With a varied career that includes working on oil rigs in the North Sea, serving in the Royal Australian Navy, acting in an internationally-acclaimed film, and stripping to pay his way through university—where he studied journalism, economics, and finance—Nick Bennett has lived a few different lives and loved... most of them. Having cemented himself as an entrepreneur, he is the founder of several companies including being a member of the founding team for a US-based fintech platform (launching globally in 2021), and acts as an advisor for more than a dozen technology start-ups. Now in Los Angeles, Nick is also a writer and producer, having created over 200 commercials and content segments for global brands.

Preface Introduction The Enemy of My Identity The Call A Chance Wantrepreneur It’s All One Big Game Beat Them at Their Own Game Round Two, Fight CIA Agents & Boardshort-wearing Billionaires Go Big or Go Home California Dreaming Machiavellian From Mansion to Trap-house The Corner Office Four Years to Build, Four Days to Crumble A Spectacular Chicanery Generation Why Not?