Community Profile: Self-Employed Youth Silicon Valley, Essay Example

For the longest time, Silicon Valley has probably since the Great Recession been an epicenter of entrepreneurship in this digital revolution era (Allgaier). Silicon Valley is located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area and is the global center for high technology and innovation. It is the home to numerous tech companies and the densest worldwide. Even more important is the group of youths in the area striving so hard to curb unemployment through setting up business startups. The young adults in this county have adopted a vibrant culture of entrepreneurship and investment. This recurring motif has produced a community of young people who go out of their way to innovate, revolutionize and change the Silicon Valley economy, society, and culture, thus bringing progress to the city. Besides, these individuals share a Facebook community where they connect with other entrepreneurs and build their businesses. From interviewees’ responses via zoom, it is evident the Silicon Valley mentalityFentr has developed a community of young youths passionate about business startups.

Review of Similar Social and Economic Characteristics of Youths in Silicon Valley

There is no better word to describe Silicon Valley’s youths other than risk-takers. This group of population is well known for their innovative and revolutionized ideas. Against the backdrop of unemployment and priorities that employment does not offer, youths in Silicon Valley seek persons willing to take risks driven by ambition and insight to charge into the unknown. Most scholars have affirmed that it is quite challenging to empirically measure youth entrepreneurship’s characteristics in this county. The particular reason for this circumstance is the role youths play in taking risks. Some like Casnocha call it ‘the San Francisco upbringing’ (14).

Another common cultural characteristic of Silicon Valley’s youth population is their innovative abilities. The name “silicon” originally refers to the significant number of innovators in the region (Allgaier). Take the example of the numerous high-tech corporations based in Silicon Valley; Netflix, Google, Apple Inc., Hewlett-Packard, among many others.  Innovation is one thing that singles out Silicon Valley from the rest of the United States’ cities. Youths have adopted this culture to begin their business startups. From the interviews held for this project, one can quickly identify how these youths have had innovative ideas in noting the slightest societal gap and offering the best services. For instance, Jake Lewis, one of the interviewees who is the CFO of a Wing Start-up business, noticed the demand for drone delivery services. That is an excellent and creative idea right there- having groceries, medicines, and your daily coffee delivered through a drone.

The most observable characteristic from these young individuals is incorporating high technology in their startup businesses (Fairlie and Aaron 12). Thanks to the Internet and other technologies, these creative youths can own and run their startups more efficiently. They offer services that have, in turn, dramatically changed the lives of residents in Silicon Valley, giving young entrepreneurs a competitive advantage against other significant companies they might be competing with. Another interviewee, Antony Pentleton, owns a business coaching center that began by creating a Facebook group. He uses the internet to network and finding clients who want to be coached business-wise- this ultimately gives him the growth he needs to achieve career fulfillment. Jake Lewis uses an app where users make orders for the delivery of specific goods through a drone. Lastly, Luke Valdes has a company known as Zendit tech that organizes people’s emails, transforming them into a chat-style. It is the power of technology that gets things done effectively and efficiently when it comes to this community.

If there was one thing so evident with these young entrepreneurs, they use social media to spread ideas, interests and connect. The hardest part of creating a startup is always convincing people why they should use your services. Still, with social media’s secret power, these youths seem to be doing more than fine networking and connecting and their customers. Their language aims at helping each other grow by connecting each other to the target audience. A better illustration of how this communication works are evident in one of the interviews. Antony Pentleton created a Facebook group after a client became interested in his business idea. In this group, he realized the incredible way he could engage others who were interested.

Community Issues and Attitudes Among the Business Startup Youths

Silicon Valley’s community of these specific youths shares certain attitudes towards business startups and face similar challenges. Since working in a startup involves many risks, it is no secret that most are doomed to fail. However, this group of youths seems to have a way around everything, which could be why they have so much success. The group’s attitude embraces positivity in every chance of failure. How they do this is by not allowing the feelings of frustrations to kick in. While policies in most counties, including Silicon Valley, are aimed at creating an environment that suitable for the innovation and development of startups, youths are bound to feel frustrated and discouraged when goals are not achieved (Korenblum, 42). Well, Silicon Valley’s young businesspersons are fearless and do not balk at risks or challenges. Not taking “no” for an answer is a proper Silicon Valley’s young entrepreneur’s attitude.  When asked where these young individuals were to view themselves in the next five years as far as their business startups were concerned, it was crystal clear they were not backing out at any point. They assured me they were to strive for fulfillment amidst the challenges that came their way. For instance, Lewis believes that his career is going on an upward trajectory as their company has had a lot of popularity in the recent year.

Great entrepreneurs are optimistic, and these youths cannot see it any other way. They are so upbeat about what the future holds and believe in creating a better tomorrow.  In most cases, media headlines scream pessimism about business startups. Politicians in Silicon Valley can sometimes live off negativity, and almost everything on entrepreneurship is negative. However, this young group of people avoids these stains and opens the door for a creative process of seeing the invisible and converting innovative ideas into tangible actions. They are go-getters that, amidst the brutality of media and politicians they build optimism.

Benefits from Self-Employment

The first thing that comes to mind upon hearing the Silicon Valley young entrepreneurs is the passion these young adults have towards seeing a product or service come to life- a Passion is shown in their constant culture of innovation and using high tech ideas to make everything better. The reality is the level of dedication from each individual in this community (White). One might not see the big cooperation on media platforms, but this group of individuals enjoys some wonderful self-employment benefits. Like most interviewees pointed out, one of the best services is being your boss. Although there are several other benefits, this particular one stands out because the young individuals enjoy the fruits of their efforts and hard work. They can also grow their business by employing as many employees they would like or take in investors at their will. These benefits brought to light that the group shares a common belief in being enthusiastic, hardworking, and always willing to learn more.

Challenges the Business Startup Youths in Silicon Valley Face

The journey to becoming a successful businessperson is full of hardships. For this community, the major challenge they face is funding their innovative ideas for their startup businesses. In the interview, Antony Pentleton says, “the challenges never stop. However, it’s how you deal with them that makes the difference. Usually, the major challenge in business start-ups is getting funding.” Some borrow from their family members, withdraw their life savings, take a loan or get investors. It is not just about where to get the capital but also how to allocate it appropriately. Funding options might be many, but getting the right choice is still a task for this entrepreneurs’ community. They, however, have found a way through this since the rate of success is quite significant. Ultimately this shows how ambitious this community is.

Other than funding issues, the entrepreneurs have had to face the surge of the COVID-19 pandemic (Calvino et al.).  The crisis has challenged the survival of these startups, limiting their growth to fruition. Even during this pandemic, the young individuals have continued to soar by adapting and reacting flexibly to the pandemic. They explained the economic uncertainty affected their services, and there was a significant drop in the number of customers who sought their services or goods. Pentleton, who owns a business coach center, seemed to be the most affected among my interviewees. In the interview, he acknowledges that how COVID-19 has attributed negatively to his business. He says, “the Covid-19 pandemic has affected my business negatively as people have been reluctant to get coached on starting new businesses due to the uncertainty.” For some like Lucas Valdes, who owns Zendit tech, the pandemic has provided his firm with new opportunities since people have changed from working in the office to working at home- his software comes in handy. His situation confirms that such periods of crisis are a challenge and open doors for new opportunities. Similarly, Jake Lewis’ Wing startup was barely affected by the pandemic.  There is no denying it. However, the members of this community have been greatly affected by the pandemic.

In conclusion, the community of youths in Silicon Valley establishing business startups shares similar experiences, interests, challenges, and passions. They share ways of communicating, connecting, supporting, and connecting and their customers. The interviews were successful, but some individuals were uncomfortable with Skype interviews. This population was generally characterized by ambitious, innovative young adults aged between eighteen and thirty-five. I had an excellent time talking with them and having to hear ideas that, to my knowledge, seemed fantastic though hidden. It’s a unique community that thrives in one of the most influential counties in the United States. If lesser restrictions on movement are imposed in the future, this is one community I would like to visit and interact with. In this region full of innovation, it is amazing how the young generation is striving hard to keep up a culture that has been adopted since the Great Recession.

Works Cited

Allgaier, Joachim. “Silicon Valley.” Inbook: The SAGE International Encyclopedia of Mass Media and Society, 12 July 2018.

Calvino, Flavio, et al. “Challenges and Opportunities for Start-ups in the Time of COVID-19.” VOX, CEPR Policy Portal, voxeu.org/article/challenges-and-opportunities-start-ups-time-covid-19.

Casnocha, Ben. My Start-up life: What a (very) young CEO Learned on his Journey through Silicon Valley. John Wiley & Sons, 2007.

Fairlie, Robert W., and Aaron K. Chatterji. “High?technology Entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley.” Journal of Economics & Management Strategy 22.2 (2013): 365-389.

Korenblum, Jacob. “Frustration, Fearlessness, and Fortune: How Youth-led Startups are Redefining Entrepreneurship.” Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization 8.1-2 (2013): 41-45.

White, Sarah. “Pros and Cons of Working for a Startup Company.” Monster Career Advice, www.monster.com/career-advice/article/pros-and-cons-of-working-for-a-startup-company.