Teenage Entrepreneurs

Having a lot of time on your hands (I used to get by on 3 hours of sleep some nights when I was that age) and $100k in seed money from dad don't hurt either.

Especially the $100k in seed money; and did I mention the $100k? (With access to more VC money)

Nonetheless, I applaud their initiative and work ethic. Most of their peers are just playing games and goofing off. (Evidenced by another article claiming 1/3 of college students are taking remedial classes).

Regards,
PCRoger.

Agreed. I would've kept reading if she had started off with nothing, or even just $100. And of course, without the help of her brother. THAT would be impressive. But this, $100,000 in seed money? There are HEAPS of teen entrepreneurs and teen webmasters out there, give any of them $100,000 and I'm sure they could do the same, if not better.

You'll find that people in their 40s and above will still classify you as a "child" until somewhere in your mid to late twenties.

I used to think that was unfair, when I was about your age... and then all this new neurological research came out. Seems the brain has a massive "pruning" cycle with unused memories and knowledge every 12 to 14 years, accompanied by a large growth of new gray and white matter.

So when you hit puberty, your brain roughly doubles in usable capacity, and a shocking amount of unused information gets thrown away... leaving you with what might be productively viewed as a BIG EMPTY MENTAL HARD DRIVE!

What do you do with a big empty hard drive, right? You fill it up with all kinds of stuff! You go absolutely nuts!

And then in your mid-twenties (24-28) you'll go through a new pruning cycle where all the worthless crap you stuck in your brain gets thrown out, and your brain will again increase in usable size. This is around the time most higher-educated people finish their master's degree, most working-class people are nearing ten years of experience, and most entrepreneurs are experiencing their fifth major failure.

Sounds suspiciously like what we say you need for success, doesn't it? Is it at all possible that what you really need is... to be in your mid-twenties?

But what would they have created at that age? I've had six figure funding several times in my life, and really not done a whole hell of a lot with it. Today, I look back and say "man, I really should have ___________" pretty often. But I didn't... and honestly, most people wouldn't have, in my position. I generally did a lot better than most people over the years, but it's always been just one or two years worth.

And if I was willing to settle for another one or two years, I wouldn't be struggling right now. It's the long-term stuff that's hard. And honestly, I don't think you can really grasp what long-term means until you get into your thirties.

Completely agree, Tim.

I'm convinced that someone could write the Bible, especially nowadays with just about every market being so saturated, and few would read their work if they don't have the resources and $$$$ behind their work.....

To Tim, I think most of the problems with people not being successful are not because they don't have the resources, they are just not resourceful enough because they don't want it enough. You gotta be hungry to succeed, even if it means making sacrifices as a teenager, learn to do without a lot of stuff.

Also, there's always risks when it comes to doing a startup, you might make it big or you might lose it all. If you were to lose it all, you better do it when you were still young anyway.

Though i don't think her site, myweboo.com will actually make it in silicon valley to be the next facebook, digg, slide, or other successful startups out there, (I doubt she's much of a programmer herself if it takes 100k VC money to make her site) I do admire her strive to succeed at her age.