

Silicon Valley: The rise of the adolescent CEOs - cwan
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/21/us-venture-young-idUSTRE81K06P20120221

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masonhensley
Fake ID's were everywhere when I was in school. However, I never bothered
acquiring one as I was a little older than my peers and just didn't get carded
at most bars around Vanderbilt in Nashville. For those of you that haven't
been in undergrad in the last five years, according to an undergrad I just
talked to, good fake id's cost anywhere from $125-150 apiece and if you are
lucky, a little more for a pair (backup).

That being said, it was kinda shocking to see the first paragraph mention that
Josh Buckley has fake ids enroute from China. Having a fake id, especially
having one confiscated seemed to be some sort of badge of honor to some people
I knew in undergrad. I didn't get it. I would hear both friends and random
people around campus hold a conversation that went as follows:

A: Where were you last night? I thought you were going to meet us at bar XYZ?

B: I was there but I had my id taken away and the bouncer wouldn't sell it
back to me for $50 like they usually do.

A: Oh bummer, I hate it when they do that, you actually had a good id.

B: ya, I know, now I will have to go buy another, but I am going to go to the
same guy because it was so good. What state should I be from this time?

A: blah blah blah

I guess the ultimate badge of honor is being stupid enough to discuss illegal
forms of identification that are in the mail to you. Josh, good luck with your
business, but you sir were wearing your idiot hat when you took this
interview.

~~~
tomjen3
I don't think it is such a bad thing to brag about, unless you mean that he
might get into trouble with customs.

He is a CEO of a company and is building it (in part) with other peoples
money. He shouldn't have to put up with stupid rules that are meant to fence
in kids.

~~~
pyoung
"I don't think it is such a bad thing to brag about"

Except for the fact that it is completely, 100% illegal. A guy at my sister's
college went to federal prison for creating fake id's. Also, a friend of mine
got caught with a fake by police, she got off with community service and no
marks on the record, but only because of a very expensive lawyer paid for by
her parents.

~~~
tomjen3
Certainly. But at the same time men like him cannot be bound by rules designed
to constrain normal teenagers -- for the simple reason that they are not
normal teenagers.

~~~
pyoung
I agree that the laws may not be fair, especially regarding drinking age.

Regardless, A CEO should not openly admit to illegal activity to a journalist
(or anybody really). That seems very unwise and immature.

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Dove
I do think it odd that the legal drinking age is well past the age of
majority. I think it would do much to smooth out this sort of odd situation if
we dropped it to 18, like most of the rest of the world.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_age>

I also think it odd that we don't seem to have an option for emancipation
based on financial independence (which some countries do). If you're 16 and
running a company, you really ought to be able to sign your own contracts.

~~~
usaar333
It used to be 18:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Minimum_Drinking_Age_A...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Minimum_Drinking_Age_Act)

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tomblomfield
While it's inspirational to hear of people succeeding despite their relative
youth and/or inexperience, I'm a little concerned that it's becoming a
perverse point of pride.

I've seen multiple startups pitch to VCs and emphasise the fact that they
skipped college. Is that such a good thing?

~~~
pg
It's not a good thing. We're reluctant to fund people who haven't done enough
of college to know what they'd be missing if they skipped it.

~~~
gxs
I've always viewed you/YC as a bit disingenuous in the way you evangelize
startups over college.

Even though I've read many of your essays and hangout on HN quite often, that
was my overwhelming impression. I'm very glad to find out I've been wrong this
whole time and that this is in fact your stance - much respect FWIW.

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bengl3rt
This is troublesome for me because I'm around that age and obviously not an
entrepreneur or CEO, but rather committed to focusing and deepening my
software development skills when I enter the job market in the coming year.

I'm really not sure how much I can learn from people who are the same age or
just barely older than me, given that I've been coding since I was 13 and
focused exclusively on it, while they may have started coding later and
transitioned to splitting their focus between coding and the other aspects of
starting a company sooner. I'd much rather work for (and learn from) someone
who has been in the software industry for a long time, but wonder if that
preference will keep me out of the youngest and most exciting companies.

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untog
It does come to something when, as a 28 year old who has yet to form their
first startup, I feel old and behind the times. I'm not sure how healthy this
perception is, but I suppose it at least motivates me.

~~~
pg
It's not a problem. I was 30 when we started Viaweb.

Empirically the worst danger of being older may be that it's harder to recruit
your friends as cofounders.

~~~
gauravk92
You were the creator of viaweb? What was it like working at yahoo instead of
running your own company. Did you retire early(?) or your job is flexible
enough that you're still working? I haven't finished your book yet, only half
way through, great discussion on the culture though.

~~~
staunch
You're probably getting downvoted because all the answers you seek are readily
available.

<http://paulgraham.com/articles.html>

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nikkidurkin
I totally related with this article. I started my company when I was 18 in
Australia and now, at 20, I've come to silicon valley and I can't even legally
go to a bar for a drink. I once got halfway to a super-relevant networking
event full of potential customers, only to find out that it was in a bar and I
was too young to legally get in. And I sympathize with the lack-of-car issue -
thank goodness my co-founders are both in their mid thirties so they can rent
a car. Otherwise I'd be pretty stuck for transport around here.

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michaelochurch
This just in: some people have family money (or connections, which is the same
thing). This is newsworthy, how?

