When I turned 18, I was surprised.

I never told anyone why I was surprised, but surprised I was. Surprised of what?

That I was alive.

I wasn’t in the Army; I didn’t live in a war-torn country. No life-threatening disease.

You see, my high school, independence High in the East Side of San Jose, sits near the intersection of Story and King. When I was in school it had a high level of criminal/gang activity )it appears to have gotten a lot better), and with gangs of all ethnic types, that activity led to a lot of brutal, horrible things.

(Before my mom freaks out, where I lived–near Milpitas–was and is a very nice middle class neighborhood. I took the bus to school, and because of where I lived, I couldn’t go to Piedmont High, which was actually closer. I don’t regret one minute of Independence. Not one. Oh, and not everyone in the school was a gang member, I had lots of friends that...

I’m obsessed. completely and totally.

Every time I meet someone for the first time, or in conversations with friends, I always ask one question.

“When did you make your first dollar? Not from allowance, or because your mom gave it to you, but because you did something. You sold a cup of lemonade. Mowed a lawn. Did some thing, one thing, to put a single dollar in your pocket.”

And every single person I have asked has responded “Around 10.”

What happens then?

Most of us stop. A few of us see the promise and beauty of controlling our own financial destiny. A couple of us wonder what would happen if we did something bigger than sell a cup of flavored water.

And those are the entrepreneurs.

At its at that point where our battle begins.

What if that wasn’t the case? What if instead of have to battle against the flow of going the labor force, we were celebrated, our friends were like...

In Colorado, every year Liberty Media has a day long program where prominent startup people get together to hear interesting talks from interesting people and eat a solid lunch.

One year, a super smart dude, whose name i have forgotten, talked about product design.

In the world of the internet, he said (I’m like 95% sure it was a dude), we have a culture of catering to our early adopters, and its one of the worst mistakes we make.

He went on to tell the story of the Toyota Prius. The darling of the tech set, early adopters demanded that the central interface gave data on things like energy to individual wheels, battery usage, etc.

As Toyota implemented these features, early adopters rejoiced.

But, the funny is, there are only so many early adopters. As time passed, the primary purchaser of the Toyota Prius was the soccer mom, and when asked, the soccer moms said, “Just give me a...