> <i>By conventional standards, Jobs and Wozniak were marginal people too. Obviously they were smart, but they can't have looked good on paper. They were at the time a pair of college dropouts with about three years of school between them, and hippies to boot. [...] Now a startup operating out of a garage in Silicon Valley would feel part of an exalted tradition, like the poet in his garret, or the painter who can't afford to heat his studio and thus has to wear a beret indoors. But in 1976 it didn't seem so cool. The world hadn't yet realized that starting a computer company was in the same category as being a writer or a painter. It hadn't been for long. Only in the preceding couple years had the dramatic fall in the cost of hardware allowed outsiders to compete.</i><p>Clearly the people who make up the "insiders" and "outsiders/marginal" has changed and evolved over time - In the 70s and 80s Jobs & Woz were considered marginal, but eventually became the archetype of successful startup founders (the "brilliant marketer" and "genius hacker" tag team). More recently, Zuckerberg has also become a popular archetype as the "technical-founder-and-CEO-in-one".<p>That being said, I wonder who the outsiders living and working on the margins are today, as it pertains to successful startup founders. Based on the current zeitgeist, my first guesses would probably be (1) women, (2) (EDIT: underrepresented) ethnic minorities, and (3) people age 40 and above.<p>However, I'd love to hear what you all think...