Last week I gave a presentation on Mind Petals and Entrepreneurship to over 500 people at NYU University in Manhattan. It was an amazing experience for me and the largest audience that I have even spoken in front of.
I had roughly 5 minutes to effectively tell the story of Mind Petals and my visions for the future of our network. I had a blast painting the picture of Mind Petals to a room filled with people who had never heard of the network prior to the event.
Yup, I was a bit nervous as I usually am when giving a presentation. But, after the first 30 seconds or so, I lost all fear and jumped into it head-on. Giving a presentation about something you’re really, really passionate about is truly the best feeling in the world – it’s absolutely amazing.
After the presentation there was a Q/A session that allowed a few people to ask each presenter about their respective companies. The questions that I received motivated me to write this article.
The majority of the questions revolved around the network being focused on “Young Entrepreneurs.” Many people felt that it wasn’t in the network’s best interest to focus on the niche of “young” entrepreneurs.
One question went something like this:
“Well I’m 50 years-old and you are telling me that your network is focused on entrepreneurs in the 18 – 30 year-old demographics, so what would be the incentive for someone such as myself to visit your site?”
This was a good question. I responded by telling this person that “Yes, Mind Petals is focused on following the journeys of young entrepreneurs but that doesn’t mean that all entrepreneurs can’t learn from their experiences and insights. The network isn’t focused on talking about how to become rich or take over the world… its focus is on following journeys and taking part in the lives of people in the process of running or building a business.”
Another person told me that I was confused about whether I wanted to focus the network on “Young” or “New” entrepreneurs. He stated that a “New” entrepreneur can be any age such as a 40 year-old just starting a business for the first time.
Yes, that is true. And one could probably argue that Mind Petals has more of a “New” entrepreneur focus to it. But in my heart, this network is and always will focus on the “Young” entrepreneur.
Yes, when I say young… I mean physically. Sure, this may offend some people who think that they can’t learn from us because most of us aren’t running “successful” companies and many of us don’t have a lot of experience – those are both givens and I can’t deny that (However, many of us are indeed running successful businesses and are applying we are doing to grow our companies in our content).
But those things are simply inconsequential to this network. Mind Petals isn’t about “success” as much as it’s about the “journey to success.” And for those people who think that you can’t learn from young entrepreneurs then the loss is yours.
When building Mind Petals, I envisioned a community where young entrepreneurs could share information, insights, stories, and experiences. A place that fosters ambition and motivation. I’m holding strong to that same vision and even though it can be tempting to market the network in a way to make it more attractive to all entrepreneurs, I feel that that would be a big mistake.
At the end of the day, I honestly believe that all entrepreneurs can benefit from Mind Petals. As we continue to grow the community, we will allow for more contributors from a wider range of entrepreneurs – young and old – but the aim of “Young Entrepreneurship” will never waver. I can promise you that.
Semantics of “Young” and “New” aside… let’s focus on the path to success, helping our fellow entrepreneurs, and ultimately positively changing the world. That’s the focus!
Rock on!
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- Gotta Keep it Young! Today, I along with the Mind Petals’ Board of Advisors have decided to keep the network focused on the youth. It wasn’t an easy decision...
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Good post. I fall into the older end of your 18 – 30 “young” bracket. In fact, in a few short weeks, I will no longer fit your definition of a young entrepreneur. And that’s okay. I am a “new” entrepreneur and have enjoyed Mind Petals since stumbling upon the site a couple months ago. I think sticking to your scope is an excellent move. I may not fit the demographic but can and do gain insight from the posts and information contained. I hope others are able to get past the semantics and enjoy the content as well.
Thanks for the support, Jon. It brings me joy knowing that all sorts of entrepreneurs are benefiting from this community — young and old, we’re all in this together.
Great post. Its always good to reinforce the point that this network was started with a focus of young entrepreneurs and even starting to deviate from that some would destroy the whole purpose of the network. Keeping your focus strong and present is always important!
Thanks, Chris. Exactly, I don’t see the network deviating from the original niche. Though it may flex and bend, it’ll never break into something out of focus. Because if it does, like you said, everything that we have built up to this point will have been thrown away. Staying focused, babe!
oh lord.
this is the same everywhere. its a generational thing. the same thing happens in the feminist movement when we say ‘young’ feminist. the first thing is ‘oh but what if you just became a feminist recently? shouldnt you support new feminists too?”
i am so sick of it. really. never was discriminated against because i was new. never was the first to be told to get coffee when i had already planned a winning congressional field plan by twenty three because i was ‘new’. never was deliberately given stupid paperwork to shuffle while my older counterparts took my field plans and presented them as their own because i was ‘new’. no way. it was because i was young.
and now i am gonna turn thirty. but they got older just the same as i did – and I am still getting it. ever noticed the drastic difference in the mommy club? the drastic difference between how a young person with kids is treated by older people versus those without kids?
youth definitely has a stigma and we have definitely be divided and conquered in the workplace. i love how you bring youth together – bright minds of a bright future should be brought to the same table as often as possible, well – as long as we get the coffee first, right?
blech.