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He founded a startup with $350K in revenue and his parents will be disappointed? Really? This guy is not your typical at-risk high school dropout. He's clearly

by il 14y ago

He founded a startup with $350K in revenue and his parents will be disappointed? Really? This guy is not your typical at-risk high school dropout. He's clearly a true entrepreneur and a winner. At this point, he can pretty much write his own ticket in life. He doesn't need the arbitrary rules and stifling structure of high school to be successful. His parents grew up in a very different world, and they need to understand the world has changed. Education and keeping your head down in a stable corporate job are not the ticket to prosperity anymore.

viraptor 14y ago
Agreed, but: > Education and keeping your head down in a stable corporate job are not the ticket to prosperity anymore. ...are not the only ticket... They still are and entrepreneurs are still a tiny minority. Almost everyone around you lives depending on a stable job with not that many options to go up. World is different from the HN echo chamber. Education and corporate jobs are still valid - in different ways, context and to a different degree than for the last generation - sure. But they're still valid.
danielweber 14y ago
What are profit margins like in the hosting business? In retail, $350,000 in revenue means about $3,500 in profit.
- onlyup 14y ago
  How do you know that about retail?
eps 14y ago
> a true entrepreneur and a winner The problem is that he might be a lucky winner. As per the "once - you're lucky, twice - you're good" expression. He's on a roll now, but if it all collapses (350k split to 12 employees and running costs - that's not really something to write home about), what are the chances that he'd be able to recreate the success? I don't know. Nobody knows. He's effectively not hedging the risk of future failures. If his current company does well, it'll be OK. But if it fails, he may end up facing more trouble than he can handle, all due to not having basic checkboxes ticked on the resume.
- danielweber 14y ago
  if it fails, he may end up facing more trouble than he can handle, all due to not having basic checkboxes ticked on the resume It depends on what he permanently cuts himself off from, which I'd recommend he not do. He's probably a dream candidate for other hosting companies to hire. If the company fails, he can get a GED and apply to college, even very prestigious ones. (And if he qualifies as independent from his (I'm guessing upper-class) parents, he'll get a free ride.) And he will have plenty of employment while going through college.
- InfiniteLoopx64 14y ago
  You've made good points and it is something I'm worried about, however, I do think that as the other commented below this one pointed out. I'm a prime candidate for many other hosting companies and with a little work I can re-secure those "check-boxes"
  - eps 14y ago
    You think that you are a prime candidate. In reality, you will need formal certifications and other checkboxes to get a job in a larger company, and you will find it difficult to find a smaller company with more relaxed hiring policies that is actually hiring (and offering what you want). The likelihood of you needing to hide the lack of basic formal education is very high. Risk management is something that doesn't really correlate with being 15 year old. But you are at the point where you are about to discard conventional arrangements for advancing through life and try and do something very unique. The more unique it is, the higher the chances of it not working out (because otherwise everyone would've been doing it), so do not burn any bridges and do think through your plan B for the shittiest circuimstances moving forward (like the economy receeding, people not having money to pay for Minecraft servers, inflation eating up your profits, etc). Lastly, on a more general note, the benefits of fundamental education are hard to distill in a concise form, but they are significant. Knowing how things work outside of the circle of your immediate interests, what people tried, explored and what mistakes they made... all this makes you a person who is smarter than the rest, and in the fastest way possible. You can, for example, re-invent calculus (and it's been done on more the one occassion), but that's highly inefficient way to go about it. Learning from others is the only way to get in a territory where you can truly innovate. But again if you don't see yourself ever desiring to do that, then it's hard to persuade you otherwise. All in all - don't drop out. There's always another 350k to be earned, but there's no better time to absorb the knowledge than while you are young. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity, don't waste it.

by il 14y ago

viraptor 14y ago

Agreed, but: > Education and keeping your head down in a stable corporate job are not the ticket to prosperity anymore. ...are not the only ticket... They still are and entrepreneurs are still a tiny minority. Almost everyone around you lives depending on a stable job with not that many options to go up. World is different from the HN echo chamber. Education and corporate jobs are still valid - in different ways, context and to a different degree than for the last generation - sure. But they're still valid.

danielweber 14y ago

What are profit margins like in the hosting business? In retail, $350,000 in revenue means about $3,500 in profit.

onlyup 14y ago
How do you know that about retail?

eps 14y ago

> a true entrepreneur and a winner The problem is that he might be a lucky winner. As per the "once - you're lucky, twice - you're good" expression. He's on a roll now, but if it all collapses (350k split to 12 employees and running costs - that's not really something to write home about), what are the chances that he'd be able to recreate the success? I don't know. Nobody knows. He's effectively not hedging the risk of future failures. If his current company does well, it'll be OK. But if it fails, he may end up facing more trouble than he can handle, all due to not having basic checkboxes ticked on the resume.

danielweber 14y ago
if it fails, he may end up facing more trouble than he can handle, all due to not having basic checkboxes ticked on the resume It depends on what he permanently cuts himself off from, which I'd recommend he not do. He's probably a dream candidate for other hosting companies to hire. If the company fails, he can get a GED and apply to college, even very prestigious ones. (And if he qualifies as independent from his (I'm guessing upper-class) parents, he'll get a free ride.) And he will have plenty of employment while going through college.
InfiniteLoopx64 14y ago
You've made good points and it is something I'm worried about, however, I do think that as the other commented below this one pointed out. I'm a prime candidate for many other hosting companies and with a little work I can re-secure those "check-boxes"
- eps 14y ago
  You think that you are a prime candidate. In reality, you will need formal certifications and other checkboxes to get a job in a larger company, and you will find it difficult to find a smaller company with more relaxed hiring policies that is actually hiring (and offering what you want). The likelihood of you needing to hide the lack of basic formal education is very high. Risk management is something that doesn't really correlate with being 15 year old. But you are at the point where you are about to discard conventional arrangements for advancing through life and try and do something very unique. The more unique it is, the higher the chances of it not working out (because otherwise everyone would've been doing it), so do not burn any bridges and do think through your plan B for the shittiest circuimstances moving forward (like the economy receeding, people not having money to pay for Minecraft servers, inflation eating up your profits, etc). Lastly, on a more general note, the benefits of fundamental education are hard to distill in a concise form, but they are significant. Knowing how things work outside of the circle of your immediate interests, what people tried, explored and what mistakes they made... all this makes you a person who is smarter than the rest, and in the fastest way possible. You can, for example, re-invent calculus (and it's been done on more the one occassion), but that's highly inefficient way to go about it. Learning from others is the only way to get in a territory where you can truly innovate. But again if you don't see yourself ever desiring to do that, then it's hard to persuade you otherwise. All in all - don't drop out. There's always another 350k to be earned, but there's no better time to absorb the knowledge than while you are young. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity, don't waste it.