Startup School 2009 Notes & Summary | Hacker News Reader

Startup School 2009 Notes & Summary

journal.markbao.com

63 pointsmarkbao20 comments

am I the only one that really dislikes when people flaunt their age?

Well--I only have another ~6 months where I can, so better take advantage of it, no? (The press loves it.) If I can get a great connection from someone that is impressed by my work and age, I would take it. Founders like to take whatever advantages they have, right?

But oy! Yell at me in private. mark[at]markbao[dot]com. I'd rather this thread be a discussion about Startup School than other issues such as this.

I suppose. I found the eight startups more surprising if you're a founder. I've found one startup [full time] takes over 150% of my capacity. How do you know you're executing that well if you're thinly spread?

Oh, yeah, certainly. I've been trying to figure out how to maximize efficiency in all the stuff that's going on. Part of it is doing a lot of strategy planning beforehand. It's true that I'm thinly spread, but I do work with co-founders, developers and sales agents that help, you know, share the work of the startup. I don't try to say that I'm a single founder in all those startups. That, along with a fairly intense work ethic (80 hours a week ish not including school) it works out.

oh, i wasn't yelling at you - totally not. more a general musing. at least you're doing (very cool) stuff.

Agreed. I always fail to see how a person's age is relevant to what they do. In a large population, there are bound to be outliers whose brains mature somewhat earlier than the rest. So what? For any given accomplishment, how is it made any better or worse by the accomplisher's age?

Full disclosure: I am a 30-year-old cynical bastard. :)

I can see how it's advantageous to let people know his age, it certainly is getting "impressive" comments here. But personally I'd rather see my own work stand on it's own merits, then afterward reveal any amazing facts.

Deleted comment

Not sure what your point is, but I deleted my comment because I decided it was off topic.

I'd also like to add that he definitely should take advantage of his age, but to be careful when doing it. When you do it too much you basically make it seem as if you're asking people to see your hypothetical merit (so, if you're older) rather than the merit of what you are doing now. This can be good but obviously we see some more negative responses here too.

where does he do that?

> Mark Bao is an eight-time technology entrepreneur, CEO, nonprofit founder/advocate, and is currently 17 years old. His Journal observes business, technology, and startups

also on his portfolio of startups: Mark Baio, Technology Entrepreneur, High School Student.

I met Mark on Friday, and when he introduced himself he didn't tell me his age once. However, at least 5 random people told me about how amazing it was that he was so young at various points in the evening. So to be fair to Mark, it must be a somewhat compelling data point because people talk about it even when he's not around.

I think what he's working on and his age is truly impressive. I do however have to agree that the wording actually makes it less impressive than it is and more like a fake plug.

To your original question: yes.

But in this case, he's not exactly flaunting it: it's in his bio which is ok. Plus, he's 17!

One of the wisest things I've hard anyone say about running a company, wasn't in there.

"We're fine with making mistakes and looking stupid. Eventually you get judged not by how you look, but by the value you provide to people. There's a lot of pressures inside companies where people want to optimize for how things look." -- Mark Zuckerberg

I met Mark at the Startup School reception at YCombinator the night before Startup School. He is a very knowledgeable and genuine person. I wish I would of had the same passion as he does at his young age.

Great summary of what went on. I'll definitely apply for #SUS 2010. Jason Fried delivers once again:

- The bootstrapped company starts off thinking: we need to make money.

- The funded company starts of thinking: we need to spend money. these investors have given us x million dollars—we should spend it!

I speak to so many aspiring web entrepreneurs who are spending way too much time searching for money when they should be using their skills to improve their products. If you want to start manufacturing widgets in a huge factory, that is a huge cap-ex. However, if you're building a web-service you can get a rough prototype out of the door - I'd say get it done.

IDEO's motto: "Prototype early & often"

These notes are great. Can't believe how young you are. Very impressive. Your companies have similar aspirations to my work.

I'll be following your work, interested to see how it goes for you.

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