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I’m a girl, aged 14, based in Northern England – working on a tech startup.

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Re: I’m a girl, aged 14, based in Northern England – working on a tech startup.

#31

Post by Achshar »

victork2 wrote: post #10
john_flintstone wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sour grapes fella. How do you know she's been 'lucky' in life?

Well most of us have been very very lucky in life, we have won the lottery, but among other things: * Born in a 1st world country * Born in a wealthy enough family that can afford computers and education for their children * Born with parents that are supportive of her actions It's a very common misconception on Hacker News that we have started from nothing and if people don't succeed it's because they don't "try eno…

> Born in a wealthy enough family that can afford computers and education for their children

Well i write web apps too and i can confirm it. I have not been agle to get my hands on a smartphone. And it's been ages and i still don't have a smartphone despite of listening and talking about it for years. People usually ignore this.

Some time back, there was a kid who wrote ipad apps. I felt this that time too, he was more lucky. I haven't ever seen an ipad IRL let alone use it or own it. If i had an ipad when i was 12, i would have been very happy and probably better coder than i am today. Having access to all of this is a great help if you have it and albeit not a road blocker exactly but still a discouraging thought if you don't have them. Reading about such stuff everyday but never getting a chance to use them is not the best thing you would want for yourself.

Only i know how much i want a smart device but i am still not able to get it. So yes, being lucky definitely counts. Although i would like to point out that i am getting education and my parents are still super supportive.

Re: I’m a girl, aged 14, based in Northern England – working on a tech startup.

#32

Post by philwelch »

[deleted] wrote: post #20

[deleted]

You're not "bold" at all; half the top-level comments are these content-free accusations of "gaming hacker news" or "why is this on the front page", and the other half are tall poppy syndrome in action.

Maybe it's just the contrarian in me, but there's a suspiciously large number of haters crawling out of the woodwork here, even for Hacker News.

Re: I’m a girl, aged 14, based in Northern England – working on a tech startup.

#33

Post by nicholassmith »

One of the things I always dislike seeing (and I can let it slide in this case) is 'Northern England'. That pretty much is used as a catch-all for everything North of Coventry in most press and misses the fact that the individual segments all have varying levels of tech scenes.

That and don't haul your arse off to London for start up events, go local, there's loads and they get better with every smart person who turns up.

Re: I’m a girl, aged 14, based in Northern England – working on a tech startup.

#34

Post by code_scrapping »

No idea what she's actually working on (coding, design, pr).

1) at 14, it's a hobby. No stress, no pressure, no family, no obligations. I don't think her attitude can relate to 90% of HN readers. Her tone is ok for other 14yo, who should listen to it and get their asses moving as well.

2) programming did it! (apparently) The languages and the way of thinking is rooted deep-enough with the "cyber-generation" to consider them IT-literate at this age. Nice.

3) if startup eco-system is ripe enough for teenagers with no experience to make something valuable, I would conclude that the professionals should re-assess their position. If everybody's doing it, it's not a profitable direction, imho.

Re: I’m a girl, aged 14, based in Northern England – working on a tech startup.

#35

Post by philwelch »

[deleted] wrote: post #28
pclark wrote: post #21

This post is daft and encapsulates why people do not take young (vocal) entrepreneurs seriously. If you genuinely wanted to succeed with your product you wouldn't write folly like this and you'd just keep working. Which is what lots of friends who are "young" do - and I am sure they would all hate to be defined by their age vs. their products.

[deleted]

> Hell you could argue that a 14 year old has it easier than anyone else because they have absolutely zero responsibilities...

Did you read the article? I think she made the exact same point:

> Speaking of taking action, teens are in one of the best positions to do so. Being young is the single greatest advantage I can think of. Boohoo I have to go to school, boohoo I have to have a social life, boohoo I have to do homework. Damn my life is hard. All these older entrepreneurs have to do is: feed themselves, keep a roof over their/their families head, potentially hold down a job, pay bills and more. The point is you should never allow anything to get in your way of working on a project.

But don't let me interrupt you from enjoying your haterade....

Re: I’m a girl, aged 14, based in Northern England – working on a tech startup.

#36

Post by [deleted] »

ticks wrote: post #19
victork2 wrote: post #4

Woaw. Apparently you can be 14 and extremely arrogant too. What the hell was that ? That's just an article full of bold claims " If something is physically possible then you can achieve it if you try hard enough " and self gratification. I hate people like this who, because they have been lucky in life and because they have worked hard think they can give general lessons about life. My gosh this article was obnoxious…

My only real complaint is she says 'awesome' too much. I'm pretty sure there's an unwritten rule in these parts that prevents us from saying it. Fine for Americans and acceptable for tech conferences, but too jovial for us Brits. ;)

[deleted]

Re: I’m a girl, aged 14, based in Northern England – working on a tech startup.

#37

Post by shelf »

jrabone wrote: post #7
Peroni wrote: post #2

Good for her. Young, female and coming from a tricky geographical location that's relatively distanced from the start-up scene must be incredibly tough. Unfortunately for her, she's going to really struggle to have people heed her good advice for quite some time as it's experience and success that dictates the value of your advice.

Ah, "the" start-up scene, AKA "everything that's wrong with London-centric UK". I hope Propelly takes off and reminds the tech-luvvies that there IS a world outside London. It might stretches as far as Scotland, if you squint hard enough and don't listen to fat Alec too much.

Whilst Propelly is struggling with the HN load, it seems to me that it's pretty much identical to Gumroad, except with that added (and very reassuring) 'a 14yo is a major contributor' factor that goes down very well in e-commerce. (Perhaps there is more to it?)

This approach to business is precisely what brings on all those 'bubble' cries. We've made innovation seem like a matter of retracing the steps of others with a minor twist, and those that want to join the profit party infer that the steps themselves create success, rather than a perfect storm of randomness. One should only re-create a wheel if it has developed a bad attitude or hired a lawyer, IMO.

Re: I’m a girl, aged 14, based in Northern England – working on a tech startup.

#38

Post by mibbitier »

sabatier wrote: post #30

I can't understand the negativity expressed towards this article. I bet if the 'I'm a girl' part had been omitted there wouldn't be half as much vitriol.

For me personally, the content of the article isn't really very interesting.

Defining yourself by your age and gender means you want to be judged based on those attributes. I'd rather judge things on their merits.

Also the post comes across as a bit "first world problems". It's someone lucky enough to be born in a first world country, with access to free schooling, free healthcare, computers, the internet etc...

Re: I’m a girl, aged 14, based in Northern England – working on a tech startup.

#39

Post by padolsey »

victork2 wrote: post #4

Woaw. Apparently you can be 14 and extremely arrogant too. What the hell was that ? That's just an article full of bold claims " If something is physically possible then you can achieve it if you try hard enough " and self gratification. I hate people like this who, because they have been lucky in life and because they have worked hard think they can give general lessons about life. My gosh this article was obnoxious…

Sorry but what in the article reeked of arrogance? You should try commenting on the actual content of the article and not on the individual, who, truth be told, you know absolutely nothing about.
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