

Troubled Teens Make More Successful Entrepreneurs - gmatty
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2013/08/14/troubled-teens-make-more-successful-entrepreneurs/?mod=e2fb&mg=blogs-wsj&url=http%253A%252F%252Fblogs.wsj.com%252Feconomics%252F2013%252F08%252F14%252Ftroubled-teens-make-more-successful-entrepreneurs%253Fmod%253De2fb

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hardwaresofton
Don't want to spark class warfare, but this really only seems to point out to
me that rich kids who got into trouble during their rebellious stages get to
be entrepreneurs later when they want to rebel against something else.

While I'm not silly enough to think that's always the case, the article seems
to support it, someone prove me wrong:

Quote from the article: "The economists find that self-employed workers with
incorporated businesses were almost three times more likely to engage in
illicit and risky activities as youth than were salaried workers. These
behaviors include but aren’t limited to shoplifting, marijuana use, playing
hooky at school, drug dealing and assault. In addition, the self-employed with
incorporated businesses were more educated, more likely to come from high-
earning, two-parent families, were more apt to score higher on learning
aptitude tests and exhibit greater self-esteem than other employment types.
“Of course, you have to be smart,” says Mr. Levine. “But it’s a unique
combination of breaking rules and being smart that helps you become an
entrepreneur.”

~~~
ondross
"It’s a unique combination of breaking rules and being smart that helps you
become an entrepreneur"

This seems like the key point - you have to be experimental, non-risk-averse,
and a little stubborn. Plus both activities are tons of fun!

~~~
hardwaresofton
True, and a non-class-minded non-critical mind might take just that away from
it, but I think it's really apparent that they are skirting the entire
perspective (of what happens to a probably larger swath of youths) -- they
"broke the rules" and _got away with it_ , which enabled them to go on to
success.

To take it even farther (because this wouldn't be the internet if I weren't
trying to one up everyone including myself):

Stoners have great ideas, some stoners go to jail for petty posession 3 times
and do not get much of a chance at life after being incarcerated. I don't
think I need to point out which stoners end up going to jail, and which get a
slap on the wrist and get to smoke on a college campus later.

I'm really not trying to enrage anyone -- I just think this article was super
unbalanced

~~~
cstavish
I can't upvote this enough. I know about a lot of behavior that occurs inside
and outside of private high schools that goes unchecked or loosely-punished,
instead of resulting in police action at most public schools (poor or not).
Nothing against the more privileged kids--I don't think a lot of the
"troubling" behavior listed in the article is all that problematic (barring
shoplifting and assault of course).

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vjeux
I would re-title the article as "Entrepreneurs are more likely to be troubled
teens". No where in the article it says that troubled teens are more
successful entrepreneurs than non troubled teens.

~~~
niels_olson
Directionality! How dare you impose higher order critical thinking! That poor
journalist can't be bothered with such abstract things.

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GuiA
For the non-native US-english speakers on HN, "playing hooky" means not
showing up to class :)

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coldcode
Also better felons. If you only count the successful ones, you get this sort
of thing.

~~~
poetiq
Interestingly those two are not mutually exclusive. It is indeed possible to
be both a better entrepreneur AND a better felon :D

~~~
buu700
In fact, one might say that an entrepreneur is the _best kind_ of felon!

(I'm not sure what one might mean by such a statement; nevertheless, one might
say it.)

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btilly
This fits well with #4 on pg's list at
[http://www.paulgraham.com/founders.html](http://www.paulgraham.com/founders.html).
As he noted there, asking about real world hacks became part of their standard
ycombinator application.

~~~
ballard
Yup. More ways to show off.

There's a line that can be crossed if the reviewer isn't cool enough or it
comes off wrong. Caveat submitter. But who's gonna worry about that? :)

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jacalata
The headline here on HN is completely misleading. Aside from the editorial
decision to only mention the more acceptable behaviours listed in the article
(alternative: 'entrepreneurs more likely to have a history of teen assault'),
the article makes _no_ claim that they are more successful founders than
people who haven't got this background - just that self-employed people who
have an incorporated business are more likely to have this history than
salaried workers.

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maximz
I think this is because of different risk preferences, which make the
conclusion obvious.

These teens have higher risk preferences. Entrepreneurship is a high-risk,
high-reward endeavour.

Since we count only the successful ones, those who take higher risks and are
successful naturally are more successful than those who take smaller risks.

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ballard
The language of the title is overloaded.

Sometimes circumstances of survival force individuals to develop hustle, while
others are content with following.

The key is perhaps rebellious temprament, from authority, whether parent or
employer, to seek independence and freedom despite risk.

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belowlightsblue
From the article: "Using data from the March Supplements of the U.S. Census
Bureau‘s Current Population Survey and the National Longitudinal Survey of
Youth, they look at the cognitive, noncognitive and family traits of self-
employed individuals who have incorporated businesses and compare it to the
characteristics of salaried workers and the self-employed who don’t have
incorporated businesses."

So the population of the study is people who have incorporated businesses. So
by "Troubled Teens", it means "Troubled Teens" who did well enough to
incorporate a business. But that doesn't count the many troubled teens who
ended up poor and/or imprisoned...hopefully parents aren't getting the idea
that it's better for their kid to get in trouble if they want to be rich later

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olalonde
Could it simply be that they are more likely to found startups? (which would
not necessarily imply that they are more successful entrepreneurs but instead
that they are more likely to become entrepreneurs)

~~~
s_baby
In other news gamblers are more likely to win money gambling.

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loceng
Doesn't that then just sound like they're bored? Being an entrepreneur/founder
will never leave you bored - always things to do..

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WalterSear
This has confirmation bias written all over it.

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anovikov
Why is this surprising? Success in life is about breaking rules. Startups are
one example.

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n3rdy
Job well done, Youth Center Counselors.

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Jormundir
Who wasn't a troubled teen?

~~~
cenhyperion
Apparently the ones that didn't get caught.

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AsmMAn
Is not what I seen.

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snowwrestler
Yvon Chouinard, founder of Black Diamond and Patagonia:

> My favorite quote about entrepreneurship is that to understand an
> entrepreneur, you should study a juvenile delinquent. They're both saying:
> "This sucks and I'm going to do it another way." You have to want to break
> the rules and prove that your way works.

[http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2008-06-19/yvon-
chouinar...](http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2008-06-19/yvon-chouinard-on-
entrepreneurship)

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saraid216
Did they check CEOs, too?

