Why is this board so DEAD?

It's like you're asking people to run before they learn how to walk. Get a job (IB or Not) LEARN about the financial world and then if you still have a million dollar idea...go for it?

This would be like if I went on a football forum and bitched that no one was discussing basketball

This is an board on entrepreneurship, right? Sorry if i ruined your (and my own) ecstasy in finance :) Take it easy.

I honestly don't know how to respond to this. But if i had any credits left i would throw poop on you....(considering buying more credits now)

The problem is you really know very little of anything at this point. I think entrepreneurship is great but don't rush it. Plus your resources/knowledge is limited right now compared to what it will be after you are steadily employed for awhile. Meaning networking, finances, maturity, and you MIGHT just learn a thing or two. Ultimately, if you start a business you're exposing yourself to low possibility of great potential and high probability of not getting anywhere (the expected value is likely very low on that one). But if you think you're so special, go for it.

Ask for your $250k+ back cuz you're still a moron.

Wow. So much enthusiasm. Sounds like I've just made myself a public enemy. Never thought it could be so easy just by posting an alternative opinion.

citylights:

Building your own business (especially at a young age) is the way to go if you really want to have a meaningful impact on this world we live in.

You are trying to come off as a martyr with a radically different worldview from the rest of the "peons" on this forum, but the sentence I quoted above is pretty narrow-minded (not to mention arrogant). There are plenty of other ways to have a meaningful impact on this world. Look them up.

citylights:

Where are the Astors, the Rockefellers, the Gates, and the Googles in our education system today?

This looks more like a rethorical question. They probably are still in the education system and you probably won't hear of them before some time.

With hindsight, throwing in names like these is convenient and easy. Who had heard of Zuckerberg back in 2003?

I would also add that the last place you ought to find these "Astors, Rockefellers, Gates and Googles (sic...)" is on a board like this one. If one day you make the step of pursuing entrepreneurial endeavors, you will see that the last place you spend your (rare) free time is on such a board. Entrepreneurship > IB in terms of hours and commitment, by far.

One of the partners at Sequioa Capital said that they focus their investment $ on people under 30 because people over 30 can't really innovate.

http://www.siliconbeat.com/2010/01/05/the-innovation-age-bias-at-sequoi…

I tend to agree with him to a certain extent...

IB people are less likely to score "home-runs" for startups simply because they don't have the technical background . (unless they pair up with engineers) Most successful tech startups are founded by engineers.

BigFatPanda, you realize that some of the most innovative enterprises emerged during recessionary periods? Hyatt, Burger King, IHOP, CNN, Microsoft, Wikipedia, LexisNexis. Sht GE was started during the panic of 1873. There are Thomas Edison like guys out there who realize that during recessionary periods there is tremendous opps to identify new markets and fill needs.

Just do a Google search of big companies that began during downturns. Resources are cheaper and highly talented people are readily available during downturns.

The problem with the OP and many young people in general, is that the tone is whiny and naive. Youve grown up during one of the most innovative periods of our nation's history as technology continues to advance at a rapid pace and the internet has changed how we do business. Rather than criticize, why not offer some constructive ideas?

I guess im just not sure what the point of your post is.

I feel this reminds of the "If You could Do It All Again" thread. //www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/if-you-could-do-it-all-again The Question asks: "For those of you who have graduated college and gone off to do banking, looking back are you glad that it is something you have done? So for you experienced monkeys, looking back, would you have made the same decision to pursue two years of analyst work?" By far the BEST response was by wallstreetguy25 when he wrote:

"that said, thinking about the broader picture, sometimes it is both a blessing and a curse to have the opportunity to go to a top tier school and get these relatively high-paying jobs. it means we will rarely be daring enough to do great things, like start youtube for example (unless you go to stanford). we are content with structured success (unless you go to stanford), and that is kind of a tragedy, if you think about it. great things rarely ever come out of structured career paths, be it in any discipline. even in finance: ken griffin started investing using his conv arbitrage model, out of his dorm room at harvard; warren buffet started out after banging on benjamin graham's door and buying a gas station; peter thiel started clarium after starting paypal (although he was a trader at cs first, but still, a godfather of modern day entrepreneurial success; he definitely does not fit the wall street mold; plus he is nuts). but how often do you see this happening, especially so early? i don't think it's becaue ppl at these top schools are good, but just not good enough; i think it is because unless we are really daring, we are not willing to give ourselves a chance to see if we're good enough, because we don't have to, and the pressure to not lose out on guaranteed "success" is just too much. and hence the "best" of us will work at goldman, then at xyz pe fund, and then become a PM at sac capital or something, and the rest of us will do something similar if not exactly the same path. and this is fine. but it just begs one to wonder, what else could we do given how smart all of us supposedly are? i'm not saying there's anything wrong with going this route; i'm just saying, because these immediately gratifying routes are so readily available to us, and the risk reward ratio is so high in our favor, we are quick to discount anything else. i think of it as a conflict of successful mediocrity.

i don't know, just food for thought; for more eloquent and persuasive arguments in favor of this mindset, refer to the following:"

JunkBondSwap, you have some very good points. I guess I haven't been thinking "big-picture" enough. I'm very interested in entrepreneurship, though, as my consulting work is paying the bills while I look for something I want to do that's a little more permanent.

citylights-- the ball is in your court. What topics interest you? How can WSO help you? Do you enjoy any other creative pursuits outside of finance? What are you interested in?

I've always been a dreamer of sorts and very creative, and I believe its important to nurture your creativity if you're that type of person, because the DCFs don't do a whole lot for that.

One strategy: while in college, I minored in art with a Sculpture focus. Most finance kids couldn't understand why the heck I "wasted my time" taking classes where I couldn't guarantee a grade of A, but it kept my mind working in a different way than in Corp finance or Markets or Bond Portfolio Management. I finally figured out, in my last art class before graduation, that this kind of study builds Confidence in Creativity, and that relates to finance career, business career, really any career. What's the point of being creative if you don't trust your creative instinct enough to have the balls to make a decision based on i t (in whatever field you're in?)

I'd like to chime in here. I'm a junior right now interviewing for corp finance and consulting internships (ZS, Yahoo, Pwc) and even though I'm interested in entering the corporate world I've always been the entrepreneurial type (I have my own small web design and internet marketing company). So, basically for the last three years I've been trying to wear both hats and in my opinion it actually works out better because then you will get exposed to all sorts of problems in the real world that need to be solved. For instance, I worked at a F500 healthcare company last summer and noticed printing waste to be a big problem in the company. So, a couple CS guys and I came up with a software program (only mockups) to reduce printing costs substantially. We even got a pilot program requested by a top VP! So, now we're going to apply to incubator programs for funding and see where that goes. In sum, I think it's best to try remain creative and innovative even while pursuing that structured path because you never know when a good opportunity/idea will hit you.