

America's Healthy Infatuation With Entrepreneurs - edw519
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/10/americas-healthy-infatuation-with-entrepreneurs/247153/#.TqGm_DT18w4.twitter

======
jjmaxwell4
I think the tech/startup industry has a large affect on a lot of people's
thinking, especially at a young (high-schoolish) age. The startup ideas pushed
by pg, and the success that people like Zuckerburg and Jobs have had, have
shown that success doesn't have to mean wearing suit. This influence will grow
as technology grows deeper ingrained in our lives.

Take myself. I went to an elite (Canadian) boarding school, where the idea of
success was largely seen to be Wall Street/Business/Politics.

About 60-80& of my grad class went to get their Commerce/Business undergrads.
I easily could have too.

I was not a nerd, more of an all-rounder. I was captain of my hockey, soccer
and rugby teams. I acted in plays, went to debate competitions, took the
hardest math/sciences courses I could. Kids like me, especially kids like me
from my school, usually went to a prestigious university and eventually ended
up in managements/business/politics.

I chose what is probably the nerdiest/least prestigious university in Canada.
Why? Paul Graham, and cause they have the best engineering program in the
country. Seriously. I know that sounds like some corny hero worship shit, but
his essays almost single-handedly convinced me that I needed to "Stay Upwind",
get a technical degree, and start my own company.

The infatuation with entrepreneurs inspires like the Apolo program probably
did 50 years ago. It's good for the community.

~~~
gyardley
I can see UW (I'm assuming) being the nerdiest, but the least prestigious
university in Canada? It was well-thought of when I started there in the
mid-90s.

I would've picked Laurentian or Nippissing or some other Northern Ontario
school for 'least prestigious'.

~~~
jjmaxwell4
Your right, its not the least prestigious, but its nowhere near most other
large universities in terms of clout (except within CS/the tech scene).

~~~
jarek
Must not mock "elite boarding school" and "your" and "its"...

------
amandalim89
I took ETL last semester and loved it! My favorite speaker was Aaron Levie. He
was the prototype of the typical silicon valley startup story. built/launched
his product from his dorm room in 2005. dropped out of school. created a
company worth millions of dollars... etc. I think the reason my peers and I
look up to entrepreneurs is because they are (as the article says) "living
examples of the exceptional untapped potential within each of us". Success
stories like Aaron's makes us believe that we can change the world. Sadly, for
every successful entrepreneur that gets invited to speak at Stanford there are
a thousand others who have failed. If it were up to me I think we should have
another seminar to counter balance ETL, an antithesis of ETL, where unknown
entrepreneurs can come to speak about their failures. so that students can see
the other less glamorous side of entrepreneurship. In fact, David Friedberg,
who spoke at ETL a few weeks back and his advice was why you should not do a
startup. There's an article, from an ETL student's perspective on David's
speech here - [http://rainmakerslive.com/startup-thoughts/why-you-
shouldnt-...](http://rainmakerslive.com/startup-thoughts/why-you-shouldnt-go-
for-a-startup-company/#more-427).

~~~
polymatter
in fact, learning from the failures of others is probably more useful than
learning from the successes.

~~~
amandalim89
Very true but I think perhaps people are conditioned to think that they can
replicate the success if they learn from successful people first hand. But I
think people who have failed have a lot to teach us as well. As Edison once
said,"I have not failed 1,000 times. I have successfully discovered 1,000 ways
to NOT make a light bulb." :)

------
larrys
"And perhaps this is why we look so wistfully at entrepreneurs. They seem to
exude the raw passion that experience has taught us to modulate, the vivid
emotion that we've learned to suppress, the intense energy that we learn must
be channeled, the unreasonable audacity that has been replaced by sensible
objectives. We cheer for them because they represent our youthful hopes, our
idealism, our ambitions and our dreams. And when these entrepreneurs defy the
extraordinary odds, and succeed, we rejoice, for at the moment we can sense,
if only fleetingly, the exceptional untapped potential within each of us. We
rejoice, and wonder: what if?"

So essentially what the writer is saying (in this paragraph) is that people
like entrepreneurs for the same reason monster and invader movies were big at
various times (50's because of the soviet threat as only one example) or with
any movie genre or Tv. Say, Kung Fu because we all would like to just chop
down the bully.

But how healthy is it for those who are influenced by the infatuation?

Sure it's great for people in the peanut gallery to read about entrepreneurs,
and those who make money from the entire ecosystem. But is it realistic for
young people who chase a dream thinking they will be the next big thing and
then pass up a more secure opportunity? (Maybe the job market is bad today but
it might not be 2 years from now.)

I spent years taking karate lessons. One day I broke my hand in a sparring
match and dropped out. Having more time to study, my grades improved. The
grade increase allowed me to get into an Ivy League college.

~~~
sthatipamala
Today's famous entrepreneurs have a powerful platform. I've heard countless
tales of people going into science after being inspired by the astronauts on
their moonwalks. Not everyone is going to become a Zuckerberg, just like
almost no one becomes an astronaut.

But these entrepreneurial idols highlight that it is possible to be successful
by creating value through innovation. We need more people to go into
engineering and product design. Americans need it in order to stay relevant as
an economy, just as the US needed scientists during the Space Race.

Zuckerberg and Jobs have glamorized the concept of "geek". Maybe this glamor
will attract power-seeking people who want to be a rich CEO. But more likely,
it will attract a wide variety of people (maybe even minorities and women)
into careers that create value for our economy.

~~~
larrys
"I've heard countless tales of people going into science after being inspired
by the astronauts on their moonwalks"

Similar, I remember reading somewhere (no reference on this though) that many
went into the law after watching "LA Law" in the 80's.

"it will attract a wide variety of people (maybe even minorities and women)
into careers that create value for our economy"

On a societal level that is fine. But on an individual level maybe not as
much. Any person evaluating risk has to focus on the down side not just the
upside of whatever decision they make. If they are making the decision for the
wrong reason that could be a problem for them. Where the "wrong reason" is
thinking it is a way to get rich or extending college dorm life.

