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Study: Myth That Most Tech Entrepreneurs Are College Kids

chronicle.com — A new study from researchers at Duke University & Harvard University challenges the popular assumption that most technology entrepreneurs are college kids launching businesses from their dorm rooms.

Who dugg this? Made popular May 3, 2008

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  • McDyess1, on 05/03/2008, -0/+37Not too surprising once you stop and think about it. This is assumption is probably due to the disproportional amount of news coverage that all the young entrepreneurs get compared to their slightly older counterparts.
  • inactive, on 05/03/2008, -1/+26Was that a myth?

    "1 percent of U.S.-born founders of tech companies were teenagers."

    Name another industry with 1% of founders being teenagers. I don't think anything is this accessible to young people right now. With any other industry you need a large capital and good credentials to start. With tech/web companies you need an idea and a computer.
  • inactive, on 05/03/2008, -0/+11I WANT TO BELIEVE!
  • thenameisgabe, on 05/03/2008, -0/+11Because the median will tell you more about the age distribution than the mean, especially if there are outliers (very young people or very old people). Those ages will skew the mean but not the median.
  • drifter, on 05/03/2008, -0/+8How old were they? They were going to go for their Ph. D's if Google didn't work out. So probably old.

    Secondly it was a huge amount of luck. But as i stated they werent young, especially not teenagers.
  • Jeffler, on 05/03/2008, -1/+8I bet this guy has the best poker face in the world
  • AJQuick, on 05/03/2008, -1/+8*****
  • controltheweb, on 05/03/2008, -1/+7Median age 39
  • inactive, on 05/03/2008, -0/+5It worked for the Google founders ;)
  • MoneyShot, on 05/03/2008, -0/+4Yes, most *successful* entrepreneurs are middle-aged due to the business connections, experience, and money mentioned in the article. However, most aren't successful until they've failed three or four times before. So, the moral of the story is: Start failing at entrepreneurship now in your 20's so you can get that out of the way.
  • MoneyShot, on 05/03/2008, -0/+4I'd be willing to bet that >1% of lawncare companies were started by teens. I myself know three different adults that used to cut grass during the summers as a kid and eventually grew it into a successful, fulltime business.
  • inactive, on 05/03/2008, -0/+4Hmm college degree and in technology.
    Does it help me with present day work? HELL NO! It's just something to have on a resume but has nothing to do with what most people in technology do. Colleges are usually 2-3 years behind the current curve in technology. While that doesnt seem like much, its quite a gap in this industry! So no wonder most "entrepreneurs" drop out and start their own business.

    Yes some have middle age partners as someone mentioned, for connections and basically to add some validity to the business. It's funny how age seems to be a determining factor in trust in technology. Most of the time, good ideas are overlooked because the innovators are simply too young...thus they start out on their own.
  • known, on 05/03/2008, -0/+3Employment is to survive' in life.
    Entrepreneurship is to 'succeed' in life.
  • ithejosh, on 05/03/2008, -2/+5digg down
  • Whadabala, on 05/03/2008, -0/+2No wai !!!1!!111!!1
  • AJQuick, on 05/03/2008, -0/+2The truth is out there.
  • BradMajors, on 05/03/2008, -1/+3Raising venture capital to start a small company does not make someone an entrepreneur.
  • techresearcher, on 05/03/2008, -0/+2Wow, this is the first time I've seen blatant spam on a front page story on Digg...
  • MtheoryX, on 05/04/2008, -0/+2herpes, that's formidable?
  • MtheoryX, on 05/04/2008, -0/+1Yes? Go on...
  • flashback99, on 05/03/2008, -1/+2htf?
  • AJQuick, on 05/04/2008, -0/+1EPIC.
  • flashback99, on 05/08/2008, -0/+1FYI: How the *****?
  • moyness, on 05/03/2008, -1/+2Hos, They're Fun.
  • binaryloop, on 05/04/2008, -0/+1Yeah.. surprisingly it's rather difficult to start a global company while stoned out of your mind and doing beer bongs for breakfast. Go figure.
  • NoSalt, on 05/05/2008, -0/+1Maybe not all ... but most of the big ones are. Look at Google, Digg, Napster, etc.
  • ell0bo, on 05/03/2008, -0/+1Sweet, I have time. I've been trying to get ***** set up so I can have my own thing going by 27, but now I can push it back to 30 and not feel bad. WE ARE...
  • Murdats, on 05/03/2008, -0/+1and lots of time. however you can substitute time with capital and credentials.
  • MtheoryX, on 05/04/2008, -0/+1Snap.
  • reddikilowatt, on 05/04/2008, -0/+1Small businesses are run by older people who generally have some background in corporations. They employ young people who work cheap. So it would stand to reason that tech companies work in a similar fashion.

    I know my first job followed that trend. Now I work for "large corp," but I could see myself getting away from this place and going out on my own someday.
  • spinaltap87, on 05/03/2008, -0/+1What we need is new and better artists that use high definition video to educate people
  • clayeaston, on 05/04/2008, -0/+1*****, i clicked the wrong thumb. damn.
  • karolisonline, on 05/03/2008, -0/+1very very true. i started business at age of 20 with partner who was 35 (so basically, yes average entrepreneur maybe is sth like 38). You need someone who could represent Your company to the old big daddies from other companies who don't understand that nowadays I don't need to be 40, to be successful entrepreneur. call it what You want, but i think technologies and especially Internet gave young people ability to unfold their brain power and to avoid bureaucracy.
  • reddikilowatt, on 05/04/2008, -0/+1PENN STATE!
  • techresearcher, on 05/03/2008, -1/+1Actually they're more like kids who don't shave yet launching sites businesses home servers.
    /thats me
  • kurtwinter, on 05/03/2008, -1/+1Even among the well healed business startups, getting one person to believe is hard enough, but 2; Tuesday is Monday twice.
  • Remlapw, on 02/13/2009, -0/+0napster was only good in the begining.. once the MIAA came it got screwed over completly

    http://www.how--to-make-money-online.blogspot.com
  • karolisonline, on 05/03/2008, -1/+1maybe average entrepreneur has started at 38, but how successful is average company? "Most Tech Entrepreneurs Are College Kids" is not a myth, its just disclosing most successful companies. how many companies like google, microsoft, facebook, apple, myspace, digg, yahoo, hp, sourceforge, ebay and many many others... were started by 38 aged guy? answer:0. how many were started by "college kids"? answer: most of them (100%)
  • Whadabala, on 05/03/2008, -1/+1Hose the fireman?
  • BatmanStan, on 12/18/2008, -0/+0napster was hardly a success

    http://chaiseloungeoutdoor.com
  • kinerry, on 05/03/2008, -1/+1why didn't they use mean?
  • goldenratiophi, on 05/03/2008, -2/+1Help the Finnish?
  • AJQuick, on 05/03/2008, -2/+1Hold the Fone?
  • URnotheonly1, on 05/03/2008, -4/+1young make facebook, humanity is better for it

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