6 ms·

The age fallacy of entrepreneurship.

19 points by sahillavingia 16y ago

sahillavingia 16y ago
Passion + rant = rambling. Let me know how I can improve!
- rhizome 16y ago
  Personally, my first step would be to remove every assertion that has a "maybe" near it.
  - sahillavingia 16y ago
    Ugh, I do that a lot. Thanks!
- chipsy 16y ago
  I like that bit at the end about entrepreneurial age, it hits home in that business experience really is a matter of "decide you'll do it and start working," vs. a "pay your dues and get the credit" credential; it even has "level ups" when you make some breakthrough or realization on how the process really works. This could be developed into an essay on its own.
gregpilling 16y ago
I agree, it is a fallacy. But use it to your advantage if you can, it won't last long. I started my first real company at 20 years old, but I am now 41. I no longer get the "wow is he young to do that" response, but at least I now have 20 years experience running a company. It balances out in the end.
cj 16y ago
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=918417 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=918417 There's some good discussion about teenagers who call themselves CEOs of their "startups" at the link above, with a comment from PG.
britta 16y ago
There's an odd mismatch when a person says: "I'm tired of people emphasizing youth, because actual experience is more important. And I'm only x years old!" - it undermines what you're saying. It'd also help to link to specific examples of people getting press coverage because they're young. Otherwise it's easy for me to say "Nah, those stories usually say 'Blah blah didn't have much experience, being so young, but they still came up with a good idea and had the maturity to follow through on it, wow.'"
addoway 16y ago
I have met some incredibly young entrepreneurs and I have to give it to them. BRAVO! You are a genius! Now on to the topic about using it to their advantage to get noticed, funded, etc....I don't think it's as much as them using their age to get noticed as it is the media outlets writing about them like that. More readers are intrigued by a 19 year old getting funding like the story some time ago about Brian Wong. Very impressive and one I was drawn too because of the title (True Ventures Invests In 19 Year Old Entrepreneur Brian Wong) - it wasn't True Ventures Invests in mobile advertising platform Kiip.me. Would I have read that - probably, but I wasn't drawn to it like I was with the age mentioned title.
CulturalNgineer 16y ago
There must be many factors that go into 'what makes a good entrepreneur'... and many fallacies as well. I'm 60. My background is neither in entrepreneurship, business nor computer technology... but rather a strange combination of cultural anthropology and the arts. A few years ago, out of my interest in cultural evolution I came up with a simple idea... an easy way to think of it is as similar to x-box points but instead of for games... its for political/charitable contribution... (small money, large numbers and immediate feedback as a response to "Citizen's United decision... is more powerful than might at first seem apparent). (Anyway, patent has been just granted for the method. If anyone's interested there's a demo at http://www.Chagora.com http://www.Chagora.com which was all I could afford to get built.) My only point here is that whether its because of age or lack of experience or the fact that neither political party wants anything changed I've been unable to get any interest at all from entities I'd have believe would at least have a few questions. Of course it could be just a dumb idea... but I don't think so considering the feedback I'm finally starting to get. But it took a patent before anyone would pay any attention to a 60 year-old, non-techie old hippie... (and bankruptcy, foreclosure and credit ruin). Sorry for the slight rant but its been a tough 4 years.
danielnicollet 16y ago
You can call yourself anything you want, entrepreneur, CEO, etc. It may be a fallacy to measure entrepreneurship by age. But I am not sure it really matters though. The only thing that matters in this game are bottom line results. If you want great results, it's better to accept the natural tendencies of the media, investors and the public and exploit them where you can. Because for every advantage you have (being young for the media and investors for instance) you'll find equal disadvantages now or later (being young for hiring more experienced execs as you grow your company for instance). Good luck!!!

19 points by sahillavingia 16y ago

sahillavingia 16y ago

Passion + rant = rambling. Let me know how I can improve!

rhizome 16y ago
Personally, my first step would be to remove every assertion that has a "maybe" near it.
- sahillavingia 16y ago
  Ugh, I do that a lot. Thanks!
chipsy 16y ago
I like that bit at the end about entrepreneurial age, it hits home in that business experience really is a matter of "decide you'll do it and start working," vs. a "pay your dues and get the credit" credential; it even has "level ups" when you make some breakthrough or realization on how the process really works. This could be developed into an essay on its own.

gregpilling 16y ago

I agree, it is a fallacy. But use it to your advantage if you can, it won't last long. I started my first real company at 20 years old, but I am now 41. I no longer get the "wow is he young to do that" response, but at least I now have 20 years experience running a company. It balances out in the end.

cj 16y ago

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=918417 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=918417 There's some good discussion about teenagers who call themselves CEOs of their "startups" at the link above, with a comment from PG.

britta 16y ago

There's an odd mismatch when a person says: "I'm tired of people emphasizing youth, because actual experience is more important. And I'm only x years old!" - it undermines what you're saying. It'd also help to link to specific examples of people getting press coverage because they're young. Otherwise it's easy for me to say "Nah, those stories usually say 'Blah blah didn't have much experience, being so young, but they still came up with a good idea and had the maturity to follow through on it, wow.'"

addoway 16y ago

I have met some incredibly young entrepreneurs and I have to give it to them. BRAVO! You are a genius! Now on to the topic about using it to their advantage to get noticed, funded, etc....I don't think it's as much as them using their age to get noticed as it is the media outlets writing about them like that. More readers are intrigued by a 19 year old getting funding like the story some time ago about Brian Wong. Very impressive and one I was drawn too because of the title (True Ventures Invests In 19 Year Old Entrepreneur Brian Wong) - it wasn't True Ventures Invests in mobile advertising platform Kiip.me. Would I have read that - probably, but I wasn't drawn to it like I was with the age mentioned title.

CulturalNgineer 16y ago

There must be many factors that go into 'what makes a good entrepreneur'... and many fallacies as well. I'm 60. My background is neither in entrepreneurship, business nor computer technology... but rather a strange combination of cultural anthropology and the arts. A few years ago, out of my interest in cultural evolution I came up with a simple idea... an easy way to think of it is as similar to x-box points but instead of for games... its for political/charitable contribution... (small money, large numbers and immediate feedback as a response to "Citizen's United decision... is more powerful than might at first seem apparent). (Anyway, patent has been just granted for the method. If anyone's interested there's a demo at http://www.Chagora.com http://www.Chagora.com which was all I could afford to get built.) My only point here is that whether its because of age or lack of experience or the fact that neither political party wants anything changed I've been unable to get any interest at all from entities I'd have believe would at least have a few questions. Of course it could be just a dumb idea... but I don't think so considering the feedback I'm finally starting to get. But it took a patent before anyone would pay any attention to a 60 year-old, non-techie old hippie... (and bankruptcy, foreclosure and credit ruin). Sorry for the slight rant but its been a tough 4 years.

danielnicollet 16y ago

You can call yourself anything you want, entrepreneur, CEO, etc. It may be a fallacy to measure entrepreneurship by age. But I am not sure it really matters though. The only thing that matters in this game are bottom line results. If you want great results, it's better to accept the natural tendencies of the media, investors and the public and exploit them where you can. Because for every advantage you have (being young for the media and investors for instance) you'll find equal disadvantages now or later (being young for hiring more experienced execs as you grow your company for instance). Good luck!!!