A 9th Grader Takes a Leap that Terrifies MBA Students | Hacker News Reader

A 9th Grader Takes a Leap that Terrifies MBA Students

danielodio.com

9 pointsdanielodio3 comments

"It's almost like some switch gets flipped at some point in college that causes many students to stop seeing opportunities to be entrepreneurial, and become afraid to try jumping into the ones they do see."

Yes, that would be the "I'm not living at home with Mom and Dad anymore and I'm going to have to buy my own food and shelter from here on out, so I had better find a reliable source of income" switch.

EDIT: This wasn't meant to be negative towards entrepreneurial high schoolers, MBAs or biz school students; I just think it's strange that the author ignores the differences in real risk being taken on by the two groups.

Came to say that exact same thing. Basically its this fearlessness again. If you cannot see what you'd be doing when this thing your trying fails, you fear trying it. Especially if you're trying to make rent, buy food, etc. When you are living at home it is easy to see what happens when you fail, well you will still be living at home. Similarly with failing at a business when you are in college, it isn't your "real" job, its something you are trying out.

It is a very very very scary thing to do that when 'failing' has connotations of standing by the side of the road asking for handouts from people who didn't quit their 9-5 jobs. How do you explain that to your parents? your spouse? your kids?

What is worse, the longer you pay attention, the more likely you are to see one or more ideas you thought were really really great fail. And that can completely freeze you into inaction.

A reason this disparity sprigs to mind has to do with age. I'm reminded that the translation of sophomore from the Greek is "wise fool": it's possible high school students at the ages of 15-18 are more willing to plow ahead with ideas that others think through and then dismiss. Of course, there are famous contrarian ideas that flourished and have changed the world, and most of us know that execution of an idea, along with pivoting, is a road to success. But I would never form nor invest in a company that hands out umbrellas when it rains for the same reason I don't sell Gatorade at little league baseball games: limited, fixed market, no barrier of entry, etc. Isn't it more likely an MBA considers ideas akin to this, thinks through the angles, and then discards them many times over, such that it appears to the outside observer they are timorous?

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