Don't want to spark class warfare, but this really only seems to point out to me that rich kids who got into trouble during their rebellious stages get to be entrepreneurs later when they want to rebel against something else.<p>While I'm not silly enough to think that's always the case, the article seems to support it, someone prove me wrong:<p>Quote from the article:
"The economists find that self-employed workers with incorporated businesses were almost three times more likely to engage in illicit and risky activities as youth than were salaried workers. These behaviors include but aren’t limited to shoplifting, marijuana use, playing hooky at school, drug dealing and assault. In addition, the self-employed with incorporated businesses were more educated, more likely to come from high-earning, two-parent families, were more apt to score higher on learning aptitude tests and exhibit greater self-esteem than other employment types. “Of course, you have to be smart,” says Mr. Levine. “But it’s a unique combination of breaking rules and being smart that helps you become an entrepreneur.”
I would re-title the article as "Entrepreneurs are more likely to be troubled teens". No where in the article it says that troubled teens are more successful entrepreneurs than non troubled teens.
This fits well with #4 on pg's list at <a href="http://www.paulgraham.com/founders.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.paulgraham.com/founders.html</a>. As he noted there, asking about real world hacks became part of their standard ycombinator application.
The headline here on HN is completely misleading. Aside from the editorial decision to only mention the more acceptable behaviours listed in the article (alternative: 'entrepreneurs more likely to have a history of teen assault'), the article makes <i>no</i> claim that they are more successful founders than people who haven't got this background - just that self-employed people who have an incorporated business are more likely to have this history than salaried workers.
I think this is because of different risk preferences, which make the conclusion obvious.<p>These teens have higher risk preferences. Entrepreneurship is a high-risk, high-reward endeavour.<p>Since we count only the successful ones, those who take higher risks and are successful naturally are more successful than those who take smaller risks.
The language of the title is overloaded.<p>Sometimes circumstances of survival force individuals to develop hustle, while others are content with following.<p>The key is perhaps rebellious temprament, from authority, whether parent or employer, to seek independence and freedom despite risk.
From the article: "Using data from the March Supplements of the U.S. Census Bureau‘s Current Population Survey and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, they look at the cognitive, noncognitive and family traits of self-employed individuals who have incorporated businesses and compare it to the characteristics of salaried workers and the self-employed who don’t have incorporated businesses."<p>So the population of the study is people who have incorporated businesses. So by "Troubled Teens", it means "Troubled Teens" who did well enough to incorporate a business. But that doesn't count the many troubled teens who ended up poor and/or imprisoned...hopefully parents aren't getting the idea that it's better for their kid to get in trouble if they want to be rich later
Could it simply be that they are more likely to found startups? (which would not necessarily imply that they are more successful entrepreneurs but instead that they are more likely to become entrepreneurs)
Yvon Chouinard, founder of Black Diamond and Patagonia:<p>> My favorite quote about entrepreneurship is that to understand an entrepreneur, you should study a juvenile delinquent. They're both saying: "This sucks and I'm going to do it another way." You have to want to break the rules and prove that your way works.<p><a href="http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2008-06-19/yvon-chouinard-on-entrepreneurship" rel="nofollow">http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2008-06-19/yvon-chouinar...</a>