Today’s New York Times (Thursday) has a piece by economist Tyler Cowen titled, The Loose Reins on U.S. Teenagers Can Produce Trouble or Entrepreneurs.

Cowen discusses some of the cultural influences responsible for America’s unusually high rate of youth entrepreneurship. I am quoted and My Start-Up Life is referenced. Excerpt:

America’s culture of marketing provided inspiration. Ben Casnocha surveyed his future customers and asked them what services they needed and how much they were willing to pay. He also had to persuade people to do business with a teenager. He had no formal education in marketing but, as a suburban American youth, he was exposed to intense commercial marketing every day. He decided to become an entrepreneur at the age of 12, he says, after being struck by the Apple “Think Different” ad. Critics contend that corporate selling and advertising are dumbing down America’s young. But marketing often motivates or instructs young people. In addition, it can teach them how to think about marketing messages more critically.

The fact that American schooling is less disciplined than that in other countries gives young creators the time and the energy to accomplish something outside their formal education. Despite his intellectual talents, Ben, in his book, admits that he received indifferent grades and had little emotional attachment to most of his formal schooling. Whenever he could, he used sick days to set up meetings for his business.

The longstanding criticism of the American school system is that even in the better schools, too many students just “get by” rather than engage in a rigorous curriculum. This academic leniency is bad for many average or subpar students, but it also allows some students to flourish. Relatively loose family structures have similar effects; American children are especially likely to be working on their own projects, rather than being directed by parents and elders.

Do you know someone who’s graduating this spring? Have a teenage nephew? Consider giving the book My Start-Up Life. It can make the perfect gift for any grad interested in leadership, business, or technology.

“My Start-up Life is the best gift you can buy your teenage son or daughter…it will give them confidence in their own abilities and courage to take on new challenges….It is Harry Potter meets Good to Great.”
— Auren Hoffman, CEO, RapLeaf

“What makes his book interesting to me…is that it bypasses the rah-rah, self-congratulation common among the young entrepreneur set, instead capturing, with remarkable lucidity, the complexities of trying to balance being a teenager and running a business. It also replaces the generic advice endemic to the genre (“follow your dreams and it will all work out”) with practical mediations on issues such as the role of luck in big successes and the proper care and feeding of mentors. In the end, this is a serious guide that goes a long way toward deconstructing and explaining what exactly allows the Bens of the world to do what they do.”
— Calvin Newport, PhD Candidate, MIT; Author, How to Become a Straight-A Student

“Casnocha’s debut is a fast read that chronicles his successes and failures in a way that makes them accessible to a student of entrepreneurship at any age. From his tricks-of-the-trade (printing business cards for his advisors) to the shock of his tribulations (including the disaster that kicked “Judy from Bellbeach” off her professional list-serv) to the laugh-out-loud moments of this bildungsroman (parlaying the lesson of learning to “say no” into a prom date), this book entertains and teaches the whole way through.”
— Benjamin Abram, Student, Duke University

“Ben’s first book is well written and explores the early stages of his business ventures. A great read for anyone interested in leadership and/or business.”
— Lindsay Eierman, Student, University of Pennsylvania

“Ben’s message not only to established entrepreneurs, but to entrepreneurs-to-be, is full of inspiration when dealing with the new 21st century world. I am including this book in my course Entrepreneurship for Scientists and Engineers as a must-read reference”.
— Dr. Alberto Correa, Professor, The University of Texas at El Paso

Otto Penzler has an amusing reflection in the New York Sun on last week’s Book Expo of America at the Javits Center. I was there, and sympathize with all his emotions. The sheer scale was astounding: a gazillion publishers, authors, agents, and most of all, books! Who said the publishing industry is dead?

Wandering around the convention center and chatting with people, I became aware of how much I’ve learned in just a few months. I am familiar with most imprints of most major publishers; I know how bestseller lists work, how Amazon processes orders, and how bookstores decide to stock books; I know how Barnes & Noble arranges books; I understand the author-agent-publisher relationship; I know a bunch of people in the book publicity world. And yet even with all this learning, I still feel like a newbie! The world of publishing is so vast and so complicated (and so messed up, in many ways).

All in all, though, it was pretty energizing to be in an environment with 30,000 people passionate about books and the business of delivering them to readers.

Here’s a photo of my co-author (on my new project) Tom Kuegler and our agent Lisa DiMona, and then a photo of Ron Hogan of Galleycat and me.

Marty Nemko is probably the top career coach in the country, editing the career section for U.S. News & World Report as well as hosting a popular radio show in the Bay Area. I had the pleasure of being a guest on his show the other week and we chatted for thirty minutes. Here’s the link (Real Player only). Below are the show notes / his questions. I actually haven’t listened to it yet, but I recall an entertaining conversation.

1:50 – Do you really have any doubts that entrepreneurship is The Way?

2:30 – Why not being a medical researcher or heading a non-profit or being a government leader?

3:15 – Is your motivation really is to change the world?

3:30 – If your motivation is a pie, what percentage of the pie is to make big bucks? What percentage is to change the world? The percentage to make fun? What is the real ratio for Ben?

4:06 – I was fascinated by the way you spend a typical day; I want you to describe in micro detail, start from the minute you wake up. Tell me what time you wake up and tell me microscopically what you do because in the details are lots of clues to what makes you different than the millions of nineteen year olds are lacking.

4:31 – Did you cut classes in all of those days?

6:27 – You and me have a drive to get a ton done, how many hours a week would you say you are working?

7:05 – Can you, from your nineteen year old perspective, do you have any ideas as to what differentiates nuts like us from other folks?

7:35 – Were you not motivated before those people?

8:30 – Would you call happy somebody like Mother Teresa who died in poverty helping people, living in squalor and fighting malaria and all of that. I would say that she was content which in my judgment should be the goal of life, but I certainly cannot define that as happy.

9:34 – Could you describe high school for us please?

10:29 – Tell me something more, give me a specific anecdote that comes to mind about your high school life. I know you spent a lot of time cutting and going and doing your business and then going back to school, but you’re still got school and you’re still very much a part of that community. You play basketball for your high school. Give me an anecdote that exemplifies the BS of high school life.

12:38 – Why would you go to college rather than follow the rule of Steve Case or Michael Dell?

12:58 – Opportunity costs means that instead of spending a hundred and fifty thousand, or any brand name school, and years of time when your mind and energy is at its absolute maximum, think what a guy with a potential like Ben Casnocha could be doing in not just starting a business but experiencing and learning and even the dabbling you were saying, look at that as the opportunity cost.

15:00 – One of the things that you’ve done well is you network well. How much of that is simply…you’re a nice guy, you’re an interesting guy, you’re smart, you’re a verbal guy, you’re a handsome guy…very easy to network! What advice do you have for the rest of us who don’t make a great first impression?

15:34 – What if you’re shy? Studies show that 41% of people are shy. What if you’re one of those 41%?

16:35 – One of your great networking successes was you got to attend the Keiretsu Forum and thereby met a billionaire. Walk me through the steps of how you networked your way into that.

18:26 – How did you meet Marc Benioff? I mean Salesforce.com is one of the hottest hosted software companies in the world. How did you meet him?

22:00 – Do you believe that you would have been significantly less successful in the absence of your father? Your father’s tutelage and/or the lead he initially gave you?

23:42 – Tell us about the BlackBerry story.

24:55 – Since then have you checked your Blackberry in the car?

29:56 – What keeps you up at night? What do really think hard about?

31:42 – Being an entrepreneur is the key to being sure you’ll never be obsolete. Do you buy that?

I’ve always loved haiku. And with my new interest in all things Japan, my interest in haiku has risen correspondingly. (Female sources also whisper from the shadows that poetry helps a man get in touch with his soft side?)

The best haiku experiment I’ve done was for my birthday last year, when I asked dozens of adult friends what they regret not doing when they were younger. Many answered, per my request, in haiku form.

Last week venture capitalist Brad Feld asked his readers to submit their best haikus with the word “start-up” in it. We’re happy to announce the winner, Scott Yates, who will receive an autographed copy of my book My Start-Up Life in the mail:

startups, like parents,
get heaps of good, bad advice.
which bits to ignore?

There were several other good entries which you can read in the comments to Brad’s post. One last-second entry made me chuckle:

Jack Bauer start-up
damnit damnit damnit damn
it damnit damnit

In other book news, here are some reviews that have been trickling in from early readers (who I don’t know personally):

“Ben holds nothing back in his account, describing all the successes and failures, good decisions and mistakes that he experienced along the way. For anyone interested in the entrepreneurial process, this account will prove very revealing.”
– David Wilson

“What’s…jaw opening is the level of wisdom and self-awareness he displays. A simply written yet remarkably direct, honest, and, yes, a bit heart-wrenching account about a lost teenagerhood.”
– Barbara Jacobs, American Library Association

“When it comes right down to it, this book should help everyone realize that if you want to get somewhere, you have to continuously battle through sticky situations with an undying desire to learn, willingness to teach yourself, eagerness to find new information, an egoless disposition that makes it easy to ask for help when you need it, and on a very basic level, how to continue putting one foot in front of the other. On a lighter note…this story will not only give you inspiration, but will make you spit coffee if you are not careful. For such a young writer, you wouldn’t expect the entertainment level of the book to be so high. But it is.”
– In Bubble Wrap, Business Book Reviews from 800CEORead.com.

“Even if you’re not an entrepreneur, this book offers lots of great anecdotes and ideas that will help you do any job better or improve your career path…. He has a crisp, clear writing style that wastes little time on platitudes and navel-gazing and focuses more on sharing his lessons learned and vision.”
– Chip Griffen

“If you are an aspiring entrepreneur, this book will give you the kick in the ass you need to start doing something about it.”
– Ryan Healey