Given the fact that Aspies have hard time socializing, is it even possible for them to run their own startups? Have you ever seen any Aspie run a successful business? If yes, what were the major challenges and how did they manage them?
Yes certainly. Peter Thiel actually talks about people with Asperger's possibly having an advantage in his new book.<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Zero-One-Notes-Startups-Future/dp/0804139296" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/Zero-One-Notes-Startups-Future/dp/0804...</a>
Having been around this a lot in my life, my answer would be it is totally dependent on the individual. As jpetersonmn mentioned, people with Autism in general have a wide range of abilities and those with Aspergers can vary significantly from very mild to fairly significant.<p>From my experiences, usually they are amazing people and extremely intelligent and have some abilities I really admire. Of course, many times social interactions can be tough for them, reading body language, facial expressions etc are also not usually something they excel at naturally. However depending on their severity level, most can be taught to do things that come natural to those of us without Aspergers. A friends son with Aspergers has learned to read facial expressions better, but it took him quite a bit of effort to learn to do it fast enough so that conversations run fairly smoothly. But I'd never rule him out from doing whatever he wanted.<p>While I have no personal knowledge of someone with Aspergers running a startup, I would say that absolutely they could run their own business and excel. But it would all depend on the severity of their condition and their support network.
Perfectly possible, although I'd say I'm severely lacking in stress management and people skills. Both of those are a matter of experience and confidence. The other thing I'm lacking is a desire to make startup levels of money, but I can't say how widespread that is in autism. If Bill Gates is considered autistic, he certainly doesn't have problems being ruthless to raise money. More of him would answer your question.
"Aspie" is a wide continuum. If you extend it broadly enough, it encompasses people like Larry Page and Bill Gates, who most certainly can run their own startups.<p>You do need to deal with people in a business. However, "deal with people" does not mean "be a social butterfly", it just means understand them well enough that you can provide what they want.
"Given the fact that Aspies have a hard time socializing"<p>As a father of a daughter with Autism, I think that you're overgeneralizing quite a bit. People with Autism and Asperger's vary greatly in their personalities. While a lack of social skills may be a prevalent trait, it doesn't mean anyone on the spectrum has a hard time socializing.