Brian Burns

The Guardian’s Dominic Rushe writing in the Observer last month:

Two years ago, anthropologist Sekai Farai was awarded a grant by Columbia University to study the technology startup community. Her timing couldn’t have been better: a new goldrush is under way as twentysomethings from New York, London and San Francisco dream of making their fortunes from a new generation of internet companies.

Web start-ups like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Square, et al have been hailed as “revolution(s) in human communications unseen since Gutenberg ”. Over the course of the last year investors in the City have taken more of an interest in the fortunes of these private companies, some of which are expected to go public later this year.

Farai’s research provides the evidence needed to prove that while many of these start-ups have yet to make a cent in real terms, the value that they add to society as a whole is huge. The culture they promote has completely shook up how we communicate in our day-to-day lives. Aftershocks caused by these changes are expected to reverberate around innovative hubs worldwide for some time to come. Tomorrow will most likely bring success for another twentysomething, who was unknown today (NB: It’s important to remember that this person will have worked their ass off for years in order to get into such a position. The overnight success is a myth.)

With all this in mind, work really hard at what you do and if an opportunity comes knocking, take it. Maybe, just maybe your idea has the potential to rank you alongside Messrs Zuckerberg, Dorsey and Karp.

Fellow dotcom-ers. Go forth and conquer.