Silicon Valley's brat pack is back
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Between us, we couldn't think of more than two 20-something chief executives in Silicon Valley running venture-backed companies.
The reason: Venture capitalists, panicking after the bubble burst, did their typical herd-mentality thing. They funded only mature, experienced teams.
Now, it's difficult to find a recent company backed here in Silicon Valley not run by a 20-something.
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YouTube's Hurley (photo: Karen Borchers) |
As usual, couldn't get everything into the paper version. Ben Casnocha, for example, is just 17, but he's running San Francisco software company Comcate, which he started when he was 12.
We didn't include him in the story because he hasn't raised any venture capital yet. He tells us he's still tweaking his business model. But folks, when you have him on the phone, this kid doesn't sound 17. Check out this USA Today story, where we liked this...
...paragraph:
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Casnocha |
Since then, he's become more comfortable with his teen alter ego, crediting a sojourn into Buddhism and meditation. For 15 minutes a day, Ben plops into a seat, spine erect, and relaxes. He controls his breathing and concentrates on the word focus. His journey to self discovery has taught him the importance of the big picture, and he cringes when he is called a whiz. "I'm just the smallest dot in a big map of human history," he says.
We want to follow up with him more in-depth later. Meanwhile, check out his blog here.
http://www.siliconbeat.com/cgi-bin/mt331/mt-tb.cgi/1094
Links to blogs that reference this entry:
The second coming of dot-com?
Excerpt: So last week, I attended a seminar where the speaker made some interesting parallels between the pre-dot-com days and now. First of all, he started by comparing 1991-1992 as a period of time in the Silicon Valley when businesses were...
Tracked: February 13, 2006 6:10 PM
The second coming of dot-com?
Excerpt: So last week, I attended a seminar where the speaker made some interesting parallels between the pre-dot-com days and now. First of all, he started by comparing 1991-1992 as a period of time in the Silicon Valley when businesses were...
Tracked: February 13, 2006 6:38 PM
J.R. Mooneyham has predicted this trend:
2004 milestone: Child entrepreneurs and activists are changing the business and political landscape via the web
http://www.jrmooneyham.com/s2008ref.html#section9
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