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11-Year-Olds Learn Life Lesson During Startup Weekend

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Re: 11-Year-Olds Learn Life Lesson During Startup Weekend

#2

Post by kabushikigaisha »

tl;dr Wayne Sutton confuses lack of interest in conducting srs bzns as racial prejudice/racism when it probably has more to do with age and quality of idea. Also what exactly do said children bring to the table? If the young man there had a prototype already in the works built by himself, that would be something.

Honestly, I never understood the idea of pitching startups at events like these to garner funding or co-founders, with no actual code/product/etc no matter the age, skill, or race of the individual. Always seemed a little quixotic and irrationally exuberant. pg and co seem to not mind however, as they seem to have gotten pitches (and accepted them) for non-existent startups. Wasn't Reddit at 0 when it was pitched and accepted into original YC?

Then again, there's a quote of pg somewhere saying nearly everyone has a product/some code at least now when pitching to YC.

Re: 11-Year-Olds Learn Life Lesson During Startup Weekend

#3

Post by vineel »

kabushikigaisha wrote: post #2

tl;dr Wayne Sutton confuses lack of interest in conducting srs bzns as racial prejudice/racism when it probably has more to do with age and quality of idea. Also what exactly do said children bring to the table? If the young man there had a prototype already in the works built by himself, that would be something. Honestly, I never understood the idea of pitching startups at events like these to garner funding or co-f…

> Wayne Sutton confuses lack of interest in conducting srs bzns as racial prejudice/racism

I don't think he's implying that at all. At the end, Sutton just notes that there were few minorities. He never explicitly makes the connection that the kids were actively discriminated against because of their race.

Re: 11-Year-Olds Learn Life Lesson During Startup Weekend

#4

Post by nkassis »

Interesting story, I personally think that their age was the major reason for being left out. Both ideas weren't worse than some of the stuff I've seen out there being lunched and getting funded. At least they picked things that were directly related to their personal interest.

I wish someone had pointed them to AppInventor for Android. I think App Inventor is directly targeted to young people like them. While I was in high school their was an organization that would help kids start a little business like this and get it off the ground. Most successful ideas like selling tshirt. It would be interesting to see it applied to ideas like these kids had.

Re: 11-Year-Olds Learn Life Lesson During Startup Weekend

#5

Post by kabushikigaisha »

vineel wrote: post #3
kabushikigaisha wrote: post #2

tl;dr Wayne Sutton confuses lack of interest in conducting srs bzns as racial prejudice/racism when it probably has more to do with age and quality of idea. Also what exactly do said children bring to the table? If the young man there had a prototype already in the works built by himself, that would be something. Honestly, I never understood the idea of pitching startups at events like these to garner funding or co-f…

> Wayne Sutton confuses lack of interest in conducting srs bzns as racial prejudice/racism I don't think he's implying that at all. At the end, Sutton just notes that there were few minorities. He never explicitly makes the connection that the kids were actively discriminated against because of their race.

There are few minorities at pretty much every startup event, if you discount east Asians that is.

Re: 11-Year-Olds Learn Life Lesson During Startup Weekend

#8

Post by kabushikigaisha »

sleeper wrote: post #6

It seems to be all hype because they're 11 years old. The little girls website is proof of that.

Exactly. Remember some kid back a few years ago that was always getting coverage on TC for being 15 and some sort of tech god or something? What exactly did he do to warrant all this attention other than connections and knowing people in insular, navel gazing little ol Silicon Valley? I recall he later went on to start a startup called Teens In Tech which apparently was just a Wordpress:MU install for other rad techy teens. Not sure how that panned out, but the last I heard of him was some fiasco involving MacBook for posts scandal or something when he became a writer for TC.

Age IMO should not matter when it comes to the tech or startup world. A meritocracy has been the norm for awhile now, regardless of age. I think these two young kids ought to be applauded for their work so far (hell, I had no clue what a startup was when I was 11, much less had a captive audience to pitch one to) and be encouraged in their endeavors with guidance and mentoring. They seem really driven and have great potential to succeed in whatever they aim for in life. The barriers to entry on the high perilous seas of online and mobile startups are lower than ever and with the right encouragement, they can go far in realizing their dreams. Good luck to them.

Re: 11-Year-Olds Learn Life Lesson During Startup Weekend

#9

Post by makmanalp »

kabushikigaisha wrote: post #5
vineel wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Wayne Sutton confuses lack of interest in conducting srs bzns as racial prejudice/racism I don't think he's implying that at all. At the end, Sutton just notes that there were few minorities. He never explicitly makes the connection that the kids were actively discriminated against because of their race.

There are few minorities at pretty much every startup event, if you discount east Asians that is.

That's not very surprising since they are "minorities", implying that there aren't as many of them.

Re: 11-Year-Olds Learn Life Lesson During Startup Weekend

#10

Post by waynesutton »

vineel wrote: post #3
kabushikigaisha wrote: post #2

tl;dr Wayne Sutton confuses lack of interest in conducting srs bzns as racial prejudice/racism when it probably has more to do with age and quality of idea. Also what exactly do said children bring to the table? If the young man there had a prototype already in the works built by himself, that would be something. Honestly, I never understood the idea of pitching startups at events like these to garner funding or co-f…

> Wayne Sutton confuses lack of interest in conducting srs bzns as racial prejudice/racism I don't think he's implying that at all. At the end, Sutton just notes that there were few minorities. He never explicitly makes the connection that the kids were actively discriminated against because of their race.

Correct! That's not the point I was making.
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