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19 Year Old Flees America and Skips College to Bootstrap a Startup in Bosnia

forbes.com

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Re: 19 Year Old Flees America and Skips College to Bootstrap a Startup in Bosnia

#3
> But, not all young entrepreneurs are like Nick D’Aloisio and Andrew Hsu. Some of these whipper snappers are the REAL deal.

This sounds very insulting to Nick and Andrew. I don't see any evidence that they're anything but earnest entrepreneurs. In the case of Nick, he succeeded (the reason is debatable), and as for Andrew, he simply hasn't succeeded (yet), but it's no reason to say he isn't genuinely trying. Older investors may be trying to take advantage of their youth, but it's not a discredit to these young people.

Re: 19 Year Old Flees America and Skips College to Bootstrap a Startup in Bosnia

#4

Isn't 19 too old to be considered a "wunderkind," per the article title? It's hard to consider someone to be a child prodigy when they're legally an adult. EDIT: Not criticizing the article, I'm just confused with the language.

True, he's not exactly a wunderkind (though he started "starting-up" in his early teens). But his backstory is more "bootstrappy" than some of the others. . .working-class family from Bosnia...started his successful company in Bosnia and returned to US. The wunderkind points he loses for being 19 are offset by the points for his more humble roots, I think.

Re: 19 Year Old Flees America and Skips College to Bootstrap a Startup in Bosnia

#5

Isn't 19 too old to be considered a "wunderkind," per the article title? It's hard to consider someone to be a child prodigy when they're legally an adult. EDIT: Not criticizing the article, I'm just confused with the language.

One of the less literal definitions is "one who succeeds in a competitive or highly difficult field or profession at an early age"[0]

[0] http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wunderkind

Re: 19 Year Old Flees America and Skips College to Bootstrap a Startup in Bosnia

#6
His name is Emil Hajric. A few years back, when Joel Spolsky's "Business of Software" discussion forum was at its peak, he used whois records to find the phone numbers of some of the most frequent contributors and to call us personally.

I found this rather creepy.

Re: 19 Year Old Flees America and Skips College to Bootstrap a Startup in Bosnia

#7
post #6

His name is Emil Hajric. A few years back, when Joel Spolsky's "Business of Software" discussion forum was at its peak, he used whois records to find the phone numbers of some of the most frequent contributors and to call us personally. I found this rather creepy.

Hey Steve,

I do remember those days...and I'm very sorry about the cold call. I figured it was worth at least a shot

Really sorry if I creeped you out there. I'm just a 20 year old kid, that's trying the best he can.

Re: 19 Year Old Flees America and Skips College to Bootstrap a Startup in Bosnia

#8
post #6

His name is Emil Hajric. A few years back, when Joel Spolsky's "Business of Software" discussion forum was at its peak, he used whois records to find the phone numbers of some of the most frequent contributors and to call us personally. I found this rather creepy.

Nowadays this is called "hustling" and would likely net him $millions in venture capital.

Re: 19 Year Old Flees America and Skips College to Bootstrap a Startup in Bosnia

#9
post #3

> But, not all young entrepreneurs are like Nick D’Aloisio and Andrew Hsu. Some of these whipper snappers are the REAL deal. This sounds very insulting to Nick and Andrew. I don't see any evidence that they're anything but earnest entrepreneurs. In the case of Nick, he succeeded (the reason is debatable), and as for Andrew, he simply hasn't succeeded (yet), but it's no reason to say he isn't genuinely trying. Older i…

I can wholeheartedly agree to this, I probably should've done a better job communicating that. I meant it more as a pointed commentary at the older investors.

(Note, I will totally admit that it was written to gain attention)

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