10: First entrepreneurial effort selling lemonade.
13: First software entrepreneurism selling a game on floppy disks.
16: First founded a company, ostensibly to make games.
18: First made a living contracting for myself.
25: First founded a company that became profitable and hired people.
IMVHO, I'd say it's like asking what was your first kiss.
You may discount the one you don't remember, the one with open or closed mouth, the one where you were interrupted half way and many other factors.
In the end your choice is what matters to you and thus what should matter to the poll :)
I usually consider a first company as when it trips the full time mark: either hiring a full-time employee or working in it full-time yourself.
So the web design gigs at 15 and forming an LLC for part-time consulting don't count.
I came up with this definition after reading a book where the author bragged he'd started 10 companies by age 21... by the above definition the number was actually 2 -- still impressive.
Even I started Pencilcoders at 18 , helping businesses build great social web experience ! We create Websites , Social Media Marketing for startups and are involved into Consulting ! We are about to Incorporate , so Does my startup count here ?
