Shaun Nestor

It is deeply disturbing to see so many kids returning from college and hanging around without direction, and NYT and WSJ trying to explain why kids these days are refusing to grow up.

Reinforcing the child entrepreneur message, here is another story: Caleb Sima, a Security wizard, started out at 16. Two previous stories, Kevin Sproles of Volusion and Scott Wainner of ResellerRatings are equally inspiring.

What are you doing to groom young people in the entrepreneurship path?

Adapted from 1M/1M

Inc Magazine has has published a list of resources necessary to identify the best industries for starting a business today. Now, at VentureBeat, VC and former entrepreneur Don Rainey provides would-be entrepreneurs with a fantastic list of the eight things he wished he knew before starting a business. In short, successful projects show positive signs from Day 1; bad employees never quit; and when something isn’t working, cut your losses quickly.

Fast Company has an infographic that provides a speedy snapshot of how efficiently different countries around the world innovate and the U.S. isn’t looking too hot. Each country is represented by a ratio of how many patents it granted and the total wad it blew on R & D. The post writes that, “even though we grant more patents than any other country in the world, we also seem to simply throw money at the problem of innovation–and in the long run, that can’t be good for our own economic competitiveness.” For that we not only need to spend our money more wisely but direct more of it to products we can export rather than pharmaceuticals and war toys that change hands domestically. Here’s how you can partner with your customers to improve your R & D.

That’s according to entrepreneur and VC Anthony Tijan, writing in a recent blog post for the Harvard Business Review. Tijan argues that while experience may be helpful in growing and sustaining a company, a certain amount of ignorance is necessary for generating new and novel ideas. As he puts it, “Being unencumbered by external opinions allows two critical entrepreneurial traits to thrive: creativity and conviction.” Tijan suggests that without prior knowledge of existing constraints, entrepreneurs are more apt to develop creative ideas and then maintain their conviction while making those ideas a reality. The tricky part, however, is realizing that it doesn’t pay to remain perpetually ignorant. “The key is recognizing the critical moments in a company’s trajectory when the clean-sheet approach is a net positive.”

Inc

A Babson College estimate concluded that on average, with buying equipment, inventory, and paying employee salaries, it costs $65,000. The Wall Street Journal decided that sounded a little high – and sought out examples of extreme bootstrapping. Its findings? Launching an impressive business on $100 is absolutely possible. Kael Robinson did it (she only sunk $40 into her Live Worldly Brazilian bracelet company initially). So did Jeff Swedarsky, who says with $110 he bought a domain name and registered his business with the Commonwealth of Virginia, he founded the culinary tourism company Food Tour. He hopes to clear $300,000 in sales this year.

Inc

Better idea generation. There are two types of successful entrepreneurs — those who are aware of limitations and embrace constraints, becoming more creative as a result, and those who are unaware of their constraints and external realities, and therefore generate ideas freely. Those in the latter camp are especially capable of developing a fanatical passion for their ideas. If you can you free your mind from constraints and external opinions, new ideas will flow faster and you become more bold in your actions. Leading idea generation with unbridled optimism is what provides the chance for new thinking.

HBR.org