For those wanting to start their own business, being an entrepreneur is a role typically defined by long hours and large financial risks. The world is competitive, and to make it anywhere requires perseverance. So how do you do it, especially if you're a teenager?
“You have to just get started - there are no barriers to entrepreneurship: you don’t have to pass a test, and you don’t need to have tons of money,” Alice Bentinck, co-founder and COO of Entrepreneur First told WIRED.
“You need to ask yourself: what can you do that no-one else can do? What are the skills you have that no-one else has?”
Read more: Entrepreneur First doesn't find startups, it builds them
Entrepreneur First is a startup incubator responsible for success stories such as machine-learning startup Magic Pony. After spending two years at McKinsey, Bentinck founded the incubator with co-worker Matt Clifford, aiming to take those with the right background and helping them create a startup. She also started Code First: Girls, a free coding course for women at university to help them learn the skill.
Becoming an entrepreneur is hard work, Bentinck continued, but one thing is clear: you’re not immediately going to succeed, and she advises would-be business owners to not be deterred by a venture flopping because it's all part of the career description.
Take Evan Williams, the co-founder of Twitter, who started a podcasting website called Odeo which went under shortly after Apple announced its own podcast service. Especially if you’re starting young - don’t be put off if success doesn’t come right away, she continued. “Pretty much all ideas at the beginning are bad ideas,” said Bentinck. “It’s only through testing that you get to a good idea. As you get started, don’t get too caught up on whether you’ve got a good idea or not.”
“There’s no downside to being a founder at 16 - you’re only more employable. It honestly couldn’t matter less if you don’t succeed at 16. It’s a long journey.”
Ted Nash, CEO of Tapdaq, also knows a thing or two about getting into starups early after he launched a business at the age of 12. After a series of different ventures, he eventually landed on Tapdaq, an in-app advertising platform which helps mobile developers to grow and retain their app’s user base.
“My grandparents lived in Spain, and while there, one of my neighbours had all these gadgets," said the 25-year-old. “He was only 18 and I wanted to know how he’d got all this stuff. Turns out, he had built a search engine. At 12, all you really care about is the toys you can play with, and that really sparked a passion in me to build technology.”
Like any career, there are specific skills that are important to acquire if you’re hoping to become a founder. “You need to learn how to build a team, how to manage customers, and know what customers want,” said Bentinck. For Nash, there is one big skill that helped him succeed: coding. “It’s got to be the next frontier. Technology is going to keep playing a bigger part in our lives, and it’s disrupting everything. With that in mind, if you are a 16-year-old, then a really good tangible skill to learn is coding. It’s a massive advantage for anyone.”
For Nash, it's also about your attitude. “At 16, the three key attributes you need are to be passionate, lucky enough to find a passion that young, and to have perseverance.”
Want to find out more? Listen to Alice Bentinck and Ted Nash speak at the Next Generation conferenceon November 5, aimed at 12-18 year-olds who want to know more about technology and innovation.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
