
It’s a Disservice to Urge Young People to Become Entrepreneurs? - edtechdev
https://www.aier.org/article/its-a-disservice-to-urge-young-people-to-become-entrepreneurs/
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amursft
Don't really disagree that older founders are generally going to be more
competent/experienced, but is an alternate interpretation of the data that as
people get older their appetite for doing risky things decreases?

Failure is less costly for 20-something entrepreneurs than 40-something with
family and mortgage to pay. And so you get more "starts" by young
entrepreneurs where failure basically doesn't cost a lot. And less "starts" by
40-somethings unless they really think they have something worth taking the
risk on.

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crazygringo
But that's exactly the problem.

20-something's _shouldn 't_ be wasting their time on things that, with a
mature person's wisdom, _aren 't worth risking their time on_. Rather they're
better off gaining experience so they have good judgment when they're
40-something.

And 40-something's can handle it with a family and mortgage, because they're
not naive enough to think you need to live on ramen to make it big. No: they
have connections, put together a team, raise capital like the professionals
they are, and continue to pay themselves a salary that can support a family.

Having an appetite for risky things is dumb. Isn't there a quote somewhere
about how successful businessmen don't take risks? They try to only do things
that seem to be a sure bet, and try to only use other people's money.

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barry-cotter
Risk aversion is a taste, not a moral rule. I ended up living in the family
home with no employment and very limited money several times in my 20s and
everything has turned out fine. If you have a secure fallback petition in case
of failure why not take risks?

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ownagefool
HN obviously has a bias, but such risks when they involve not paying invoices
or staff does have a moral composition.

I worked a couple of months for a startup that just didn't pay me. Now I don't
believe people should be forced into indentured servitude, but the guys
undertaken the same trick several times and many don't neccessairly agree that
the slate is morally wiped clean when your 7th startup is finally a success
after leaving a trail of misery behind you.

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esotericn
I mean, many of us don't see it as a choice. If not 'starting a company', at
least striking out on your own and taking a different path to society around
you.

If you're born in a dead end town (or country) with little economic activity
to speak of, then you either start concocting hustles (whether that be
trading, starting a company, taking side jobs, moving town, clipping coupons..
whatever), or you're poor for a lifetime.

Looking at statistics like this is frankly uninteresting for the most driven
individuals. Only 1 in N million people make it to the Olympics, but if you
have the right genetics and drive, your probability of success is orders of
magnitude higher.

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koolba
> Only 1 in N million people make it to the Olympics, but if you have the
> right genetics and drive, your probability of success is orders of magnitude
> higher.

It’s actually significantly higher (yet still grossly out of reach for most).
There were approximately 11,000 athletes at the most recent summer olympics so
that’s closer to 1 in 1/2 million out of the total population. Even higher
when you exclude by age and other factors.

Still much better off learning programming though.

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im3w1l
I got curious and looked into it briefly. Seems many people who get to the
olympics still need to have dayjobs.

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dx87
Depending on the event you want to do, it can be super easy to get into the
olympics. Here's an article about a woman that participated in the winter
olympics by gaming the qualification rules.

[https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/winter-
olympics...](https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/winter-
olympics/winter-olympics-2018-pyeongchang-elizabeth-swaney-ski-halfpipe-video-
average-a8218991.html)

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iandanforth
It's also a disservice to encourage teenagers to play sports because the data
clearly show that people in their 20s and 30s are better professional sports
players.

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nayaketo
It's a disservice to encourage young people in 20s to get a job because data
clearly shows people in their 40s make much more salary.

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cookie_monsta
I think it's a disservice to urge Young People as a whole to do _any one
thing_. Let them figure out what's best for them, based on skillset and
temperament.

The flip side to all this impressive data would be to ask how many people end
up with a 1 in 1000 company by "getting a job, buckling down, learning a
trade, and then... trying something new"

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lawrenceyan
When the environment you grow up in has little to no existing opportunities,
the only way to succeed to is to create your own. You don't really have any
other choice.

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drak0n1c
Business creation is already unusually low among the youngest generation
compared to other generations when they were the same age. I don’t think we
should be discouraging them further.

[https://eig.org/dynamism](https://eig.org/dynamism)

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kornork
This headline is clickbait.

There's a big difference between being a successful entrepreneur and "founding
for the 1-in-1,000 fastest growing new ventures," which is what this article
is really about.

There are plenty of folks here on HN running profitable small businesses -
aren't they successful entrepreneurs?

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tdburn
Agree or disagree on his take, the data deserves some consideration. Having
started my own business young with success, I’ve been of the mindset that
staring a risky venture is wiser in your youth. I’ve always told my friends to
try something out while they’re young before they have all the monthly
expenses of a family etc. But start small and validate the demand, and don’t
quit your job because it’s funding your business. Otherwise debt can kill your
runway and discourage taking further chances.

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dpwr
My first job out of University was meant to be a prestigious grad program
building "leaders of tomorrow". What I was actually doing was sitting in a
back office doing glorified admin work. My first crack at entrepreneurship was
at 25. I'm absolutely not a millionaire but I have learnt more than I ever
would have in any job I would have had in a much shorter amount of time. For
some this path suits their personality and if I knew I could do it much
younger I would have.

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algaeontoast
I think another point that’s important to make is that startups are an
industry.

I’ve had great experiences at small early stage companies but the draw of
getting kids to drop out of college or glorifying “hustle” is all in the end
to benefit investors and those who stand to potentially benefit with limited
risk.

That said, I completely understand friends of mine who look at the lifestyle
of a founder or entrepreneur with a big “no thanks to that”.

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PeterStuer
Entrepreneuring is a 'hit' business. For every 1 success there will be 1.000's
failures. It's the 20xx equivalent of late last century's starting a band.

It's fine trying out some long-shots, and doing this while you have no
constraints beyond a couch to crash on and your next cup of ramen is far
easier than doing so when you have kids and a mortgage, so go for it.

That said, should we 'urge' anyone into this lifestyle? No, not anymore than
we should condemn some for trying it.

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fzeroracer
I don't think there's anything wrong or unethical with encouraging people to
become entrepreneurs. Younger people are going to be more in tune with what
new needs the next generation are going to have.

It is, however, unethical and wrong to encourage people to sacrifice
everything when your society has zero safety nets for those that fail. And
realistically, most entrepreneurs are going to fail. That's just factual
reality. We all learn from our failures and become better engineers or better
people from them, but when you tie it all to a hustle or a startup you run the
risk of falling into a quite literally unrecoverable trap.

That's assuming you even have the capital to run your own company in the first
place. I've been in the software business for a while now and I have nowhere
near the amount needed to bootstrap a company plus support myself and my
family.

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treyfitty
The article posits many well reasoned points. I agree- it’s not my first
inclination to nudge my children into such a volatile lifestyle and career
path with high variance in payouts. Steady and stable is good, but it’s not
for me to impose on them either. But I’ll most certainly nudge them in that
direction over the former.

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luord
Well, this certainly makes me feel better about not having any idea for a
business to start.

Gonna keep being an employee/contractor for a while.

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iamleppert
It’s far better to join a startup in your desired industry, or work for
multiple startups, large companies etc. Then take that experience earned on
someone else’s dime and start your own company.

I 100% agree there are too many young founders trying to compete in industries
they know nothing about, with little skill, and with abhorrent management
skill. Especially the last one is something you only get good at with the
right experience and is crucial for starting a company (being able to manage
others). I’ve made the mistake of working for young founders and asked myself
the question: how & why would someone ever think this person could be
successful?

Why do we have so many young incompetent founders? I blame the VC’s, who
encourage a toxic culture that basically ensures people’s failure. They give
people who are ill-equipped in almost every way money and then pray. There are
exceptions to the norm, but they are just that —- exceptions. I think that’s
why there’s all this mysticism built into the culture where it should be a lot
more reasoned.

