15 is the New 25
Last month, Foundation Capital hosted FCT3, an event where more than 20 high school kids got a platform to talk about their vision for the future of technology.
It was an inspiring evening. A hundred people gathered and watched as teens from seven local schools presented their viewpoints of what tomorrow’s technology would bring. Some spoke about their philosophy towards technology, how education has to change and some about next-generation technologies that could change the way we live.
As we sat and listened to them, it crossed my mind that these kids sounded a lot like the 25-year-olds I used to know back when I started my career. They had the same poise, the level of communication skills and the knowledge of entrepreneurship that someone entering the workplace a generation ago hoped to have. I mentioned that to Dan Rosensweig, the CEO of Chegg, who was sitting next to me, and he agreed. “If 15 is the new 25, where will these kids be when they actually turn 25?” he commented.
Teens today are going out and doing the kinds of things that people ten years older than them would have done a generation ago. They’re building apps, starting companies, creating working prototypes, and getting the biggest names in Silicon Valley to hire them. Kids like Jordan Casey and Michael Sayman are celebrities in the tech world, often sharing the stage with CEOs of Fortune 500 companies.
“Teens, surrounded by continuous technological change, such as 3D printers and mobile phones, have had instant researching capabilities to foster their curiosity since birth,” said Kim Saxe, director of innovation at the Nueva School and d.school lecturer at Stanford University. “In over two decades of teaching, I have never seen a generation that is so well-equipped, both in knowledge and mindsets, to improve the world.”
In a quest to tap into that knowledge and mindset, some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley have begun to embrace teen developers and entrepreneurs.
Apple let teenage programmers attend its World Wide Developer Conference for the first time — with parent chaperones — in 2012. Entrepreneurship programs targeting youth in tech are sprouting all over the country. Peter Thiel, who just released a book filled with advice for entrepreneurs, set up the Thiel fellowship four years ago. His audience: students under the age of 20. Fifty-eight organizations have come out of the four-year-old program already.
While there are legitimate concerns about whether these kids are growing up faster than they should, and taking on too much stress too soon, the fact is that this is a real trend. And it has some positive implications.
The obvious one is that there are many more options now for high school graduates than ever before. They can get hired by one of the tech giants in Silicon Valley, or launch their own startup and make money through the iOS store. This will affect, eventually, how we view college education. Parents, who might have been dreaming of sending their kids to Ivy League institutions, will have to be open to the idea that their kids may decide to not go to college — ever.
We’re going to see more investors and VC firms follow the trend that Thiel started. You can probably expect to see youth enterprise incubators coming to a building near you.
Colleges and educational institutions will also increase their focus on entrepreneurship so as to cater to the changing needs of today’s youth.
“The group coming through our doors today is more technical, more educated on entrepreneurialism and generally more prepared than the students we saw a generation ago,” says Richard Lyons, dean of the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. “This points to the fact that people are taking programming courses younger, are learning about entrepreneurship younger, and in fact, are starting companies younger than ever before.”
15 really is the new 25. Let’s get used to it.
To see our video recap: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYLA7SDBJ3c
