Comment by bitcartel | Hacker News Reader

Comment by bitcartel | Hacker News Reader

The start-up scene is, in a way, kind of sad.

The tech media and mainstream press routinely salivate over stories of 13... 15... 17... and 19 year old whiz kid entrepreneurs.

Yet there was a time when teenagers and young adults wrote software and tinkered with hardware, sharing their creations with friends and peers, on a journey of computing discovery.

There was a time when 'Demo Day' literally meant getting a group of friends together, travelling to a new city, and showing off your coding and artistic skills. The prizes were prestige and peer recognition. http://archive.assembly.org/1992

Now, kids and teenagers are being schooled to hustle and score big money. Where is the pure joy of discovery? Something has been lost.

EDIT: Just wanted to add, it's amazing what you can do in just 4kb (4096 byte executable, no external data files). This should inspire programmers of all ages.

2012 Fireflies: http://archive.assembly.org/2012/4k-intro/fireflies-by-blobt...

2009 Muon Baryon: http://archive.assembly.org/2009/4k-intro/muon-baryon-by-you...

You're making the mistake of: start-up scene = media coverage.

If you thought the real world = media coverage, you'd think there would be murders and robberies and assaults happening all around you every hour.

Sure, but kids and parents are not immune to the media's filter bubble. Young programmers might feel pressure to emulate celebrity wunderkids instead of following their own passions.

Then you should be directing your criticism at the media, not the startup scene.

Why not both?

The media are part of the hype machine but they aren't responsible for investing in companies like Summly, holding demo days, running weekend hackathons, acqui-hiring or bringing on board token celebrity investors... are they?

I just heard of Summly for the first time yesterday, it seems like their recent fame has come greatly as a result of the purchase by Yahoo!

But I can't judge as I haven't been closely following the story. Is there any general consensus on the funding as a good or bad idea?

For the record I really like their promo video. It shows off the product with a bit of witty comedy. I just couldn't find myself using it, and I don't know how it'll fit into Yahoo, but definitely a fun app.

Summly discussion over the past few days:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5442290

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5445159

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5449394

Are you criticizing the startup scene for its salivation over youth entrepreneurs? Or are you now shifting your criticism to things like acquihires and celebrity investors?

I find nothing wrong with hacakathons and acquihires, personally. As for celebrity investors, if a social media startup feels they need that kind of marketing / media attention, good for them.

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