Valleywag
Ben Casnocha, the entrepreneur-philosopher who is dispensing the accumulated wisdom of his 19 years in a new book, is cagey about the actual details of his business. 'Big Ben' tells a New York Times reviewer that the financials of Comcate, the firm upon whose supposed success he's based his new role as a guru, have been withheld for "proprietary reasons." No wonder he's so discreet: it transpires from the article that Comcate, a service firm which builds websites for local governments, has burned through $250,000 of investment, sorry, daddy's money; it's only now "self-sustaining"; and the $1m-a-year revenue number, of which Casnocha boasted, is merely a forecast for the current year. Of course, it's in no reporter's interest to question the self-promoting entrepreneur too closely; the tale of a whiz kid loses some if its appeal if it turns out that the kid isn't much of a whiz.
A kid without the whiz
Ben Casnocha, the entrepreneur-philosopher who is dispensing the accumulated wisdom of his 19 years in a new book, is cagey about the actual details of his business. 'Big Ben' tells a New York Times reviewer that the financials of Comcate, the firm upon whose supposed success he's based his new role as a guru, have been withheld for "proprietary reasons." No wonder he's so discreet: it transpires from the article that Comcate, a service firm which builds websites for local governments, has burned through $250,000 of investment, sorry, daddy's money; it's only now "self-sustaining"; and the $1m-a-year revenue number, of which Casnocha boasted, is merely a forecast for the current year. Of course, it's in no reporter's interest to question the self-promoting entrepreneur too closely; the tale of a whiz kid loses some if its appeal if it turns out that the kid isn't much of a whiz.
11:07 AM on Mon Jun 18 2007
By Nick Denton
1,225 views
10 comments
