November 30, 2023 at 2:52 p.m. EST
Rising competitiveness for entry-level jobs and college admissions over the past 25 years, has transformed some of the most successful Gen Zers and millennials into multitasking generalists and hustlers. These characteristics translate well to early-stage entrepreneurship. This is a serious, do-it-all business, where founders code, design, market, balance the books, pitch, fundraise, and hire all on their own.
“Think about how hard it is to get into college today,” says Meagan Loyst, the 26-year-old founder of Gen Z VCs, a community of more than 27,000 Gen Zers in entrepreneurship and venture capital. She describes college admissions cases in which kids do it all — found nonprofits, raise millions for their start-ups, manage their soccer teams and lead the band — but still get rejected from college admissions. best universities. “We are prepared to think that we have to do everything to succeed,” she says.
For multitaskers raised on the fast-paced Internet, the world of work after college can seem monotonous and bureaucratic in comparison. Loyst explains: “You’re like, ‘Wait, what? You want me to do this thing from 9 to 5? For example, I can’t even sit through a meeting without my mind going blank.
Unlike start-ups, large, established organizations already have useful systems in place. But entrepreneur Christina Moniodis says, in many ways, “they’re clinging to the past and (are) really infected by paradigms that prevent them from moving forward.”
Entrepreneurship, with its frenetic pace and daily fires to put out, keeps curious founders engaged. “I like chasing thrills. You know, I like to try new things,” says Ibrahim Rashid, a 26-year-old author and health-tech entrepreneur. As a former tech entrepreneur, I loved growing in a field where my tendency to move fast and “do everything at once” was an asset.
Although it is true that each new generation of young people is considered idealistic and dreamy, Generation Z I want work which correspond to their moral, social or political values. Maybe that’s why 62 percent claim to have created (or intend to create) their own business.
Young entrepreneurs aren’t just trying to make a lot of money: they’re driven by deep empathy and altruism. Rashid’s start-up, for example, was born from one of the worst periods of his life: a battle against long covid. He started working with his co-founder on Solid carrierswhich provides software for wearable health devices to provide useful data to people with chronic illnesses.
In addition to his start-up, Rashid wrote a book about Long Covid and enjoys connecting with others who have had similar experiences. Rashid also has a day job in climate investing. “I’ve always had these values of social justice and trying to help other people,” he says. Knowing that Strong Haulers changes lives has helped him navigate the challenges of entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurship offers these ambitious young graduates something that their stable professional job cannot: the opportunity to have a direct and personal impact on the future.
Moniodis is a Greek-American entrepreneur working on a app called Kord to connect small diasporic cultural and religious communities across the United States, starting with its own. Moniodis has already had an impressive career, including a Yale Law School graduate, former chief of staff at HuffPost, and former White House staffer. But it was the ability to have a direct impact on an issue she cares about that inspired her to pursue entrepreneurship. She told me: “The advantage of being in professional services”, that is to say in traditional fields like accounting or law, is that “you solve problems, but I don’t think that you create the future.”
Gen Z and millennials, as digital natives, have other characteristics that make us ideally suited for entrepreneurship. In the world of start-ups and venture capital, young people’s lack of experience may be compensated for by their natural social instincts about what’s “cool” and what’s not.
Loyst gave an example: “Many people naturally assume, when there is a new and emerging technology, that young people will be the first to adopt and use it. But if you actually spent any time on TikTok during the Web3 NFT craze, everyone was making fun of NFTs.
But not everything is perfect. The intense passion and frenetic nature of a start-up is, as Moniodis reminds me, 24/7, not 9 to 5. When the problem you’re trying to solve relates to your personal identity, startup failures can feel like personal failures. Several of the ambitious founders I spoke to saw their health affected, as Loyst puts it, “by doing too much at work.”
When starting early, All it depends on the founder. “If you walked away, it would just disappear,” Moniodis says. I remember the feeling.
From my conversations with entrepreneurs this week, I want to highlight the wonderful blend of optimism and realism, as well as confidence and humility, that they carry. They know exactly how difficult it is to take a startup from zero to one, and yet they try anyway.
As a young founder, it’s completely normal to feel overwhelmed. Ibrahim reminds me and himself that “it’s okay if I don’t have all the answers, because I’m pretty young.” (The average age of a The founder of a successful start-up is 45 years oldaccording to the Harvard Business Review.) You have to start somewhere.
Young people interested in entrepreneurship or venture capital as a future career path (and that includes me!) should remember their unique market strengths the next time they introduce themselves to others.
And do yourself a favor and take Your rich best friend founder and author Vivian Tu’s advice for responding to the inevitable setbacks to come. Remember: over time, “the task stays the same, but you get better.”
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