Schoolboy entrepreneur Ben Way made a life changing business deal worth £25 million at 17,  making him one of Britain’s youngest self-made millionaires. 6 years later, he’d lost the lot. Now 27 and head of an innovation venturing company, he is savouring success again. He lives alone in London.

I grew up in a little Devon village and my father, an accountant, and mother, an artist, split up when I was little. I moved between them, which didn’t help me settle. When I was nine I was finally diagnosed with dyslexia.

Dad managed to get a laptop from the local authority to help with my written work. It was the world’s biggest, most monstrous laptop but I loved it. The computer allowed me to take pride in my work for the first time and I got good at computers very quickly.

The world was waking up to the computer age, but I was now one step ahead. When my friends’ parents started to get computers and couldn’t understand them, they’d call me out to help. I started charging £10 an hour. Before long I was running a fully-fledged computer consultancy business from my bedroom.

Working around school, I was probably turning over around £20,000 a year. I ran that business for three years until I left school at 16 to work full time. I became a paper millionaire and appeared on chat shows, which I enjoyed.

But, now fully aware of how tough life can be when you hit rock bottom, he wants to find others who deserve a helping hand. “I’ve been incredibly lucky to have ended up on this side of the tracks. I see it a bit like Russian roulette. My life played Russian roulette with me. Fortunately I won and some people haven’t and I can find those people and change their lives.”

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I was approached by investors in Jersey who paid me a six-figure salary to be a consultant. I moved to a penthouse with a four-poster bed. I can remember literally pinching myself as I looked around, just to see if it was real.

I stayed in Jersey until I was 17, but I wasn’t happy. I fell out with the investors and moved to London. I was still paid my salary, and with the equity I had in the venture company I was worth £18 million on paper at just 19.

Then the dotcom bubble burst. My cheques from Jersey stopped, and the company disbanded, rendering my £18m stock worthless. I was broke. On the same day I read I was on the Sunday Times Rich list – number 18, under Robbie Williams. In fact, I didn’t even have enough money for a Tube ticket.

Luckily, a good friend invited me to stay at his place. I carried on consulting and then, in 2002, I started a company called Rainmakers. We come up with product ideas involving all kinds of technology, and I’m now back to multi-million pound status again.

My failure made me a better person. I don’t take myself so seriously anymore. I’ve never forgotten how far I fell and I don’t want to experience it again.