"I have seen so many young entrepreneurs and..."

http://37signals.com/svn/posts/1999-i-have-seen-so-many-young-entrepreneurs-and

by fogus • 17 years ago

2 4 17 years ago

Ironically, this post's signal (business leaders should focus on fundamental questions of profitability) gets lost in the inevitable noise that accompanies a rant (put-downs, despair, negativity).

To me, this post demonstrates that ranting to make a point is normally counterproductive. As further evidence, I point to the comments (albeit only 4 of them at the time of this response), which deal not with the subject of the post (whatever you make that to be), but with the way it is presented.

My philosophy professor in school once said (and this was years ago, so I recognize that this is paraphrased and maybe even misremembered) that he wouldn't ignore spelling and grammar mistakes in essays, because substance is inseparable from style. I tend to agree. If you want people to listen to you and engage in meaningful discussion with you (and if you're writing a blog, I assume this is what you want), you have to present your substance in a style which is conducive to this end. Ranting is rarely this style.

joeythibault2• 17 years ago

Agreed, however they rarely pull punches at the SvN blog. This is not the first time they make comments about the "others" (even if they're successful "others").

joeythibault2• 17 years ago

What's wrong with being young? I feel old at 27, but because I have 5 less years now to think of, develop, and launch new projects compared to a 22 year old.

There's nothing wrong with being young and a CEO. In fact, you'll probably have to step up to the plate because no old fart will work for free and helm you startup (not that you'd want them to anyway).

ggchappell• 17 years ago

> ... and 22 year old CEOs use buzz terms like scalable, robust and enterprise but there is no meat to anything ....

A peeve: More than once recently I've seen articles indicating that words like these are meaningless. I beg to differ. For the record:

"Scalable" describes things that work well when dealing with increasingly large problems.

"Robust" means it can take anything you throw at it, without breaking.

"Enterprise" means for a business, particularly a sizable one.

These are all meaningful, useful words, and the fact that some people misuse them, does not change that.

(OTOH, I must admit that, when I hear the phrase "enterprise computing", my brain automatically translates it to "I'm trying to rip you off", but maybe my brain just needs rewiring.)

"I have seen so many young entrepreneurs and..."

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