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Last update - 10:51 30/07/2008 Can a 14-year-old computer geek be the CEO of a startup company? By Ofri Ilani Tags: gifted youth, programming  At first Startupseeds.com's event seemed like just another day camp. Some 30 children, aged 12-16, sat in an auditorium at Tel Aviv University. Ami Ben-Bassat, the company's CEO, opened the meeting with a declaration: "Today we have reason to celebrate, Gil has a birthday." At the sound of applause, a curly-haired boy with rosy cheeks, smiling from ear-to-ear went up to the dais. "He just returned from day camp, he looks completely roasted," Ben-Bassat said. "Today, he is 14 and on August 1 he will be launching his first startup." It was a periodic meeting of Startupseeds.com, a community of children with startups, most of whom are programmers, but some already describe themselves as "managers." In the next part of the program, a partner in a high-tech company that recently launched a new service to build Web sites addressed the crowd. Advertisement It was hard not to blink in shock at the questions and comments coming from the children, as some of their voices had yet to change. One after another they slung sharp questions at the lecturer about the structure and operating method of the service and the company. "How does the business model of the site work?" asked a 14-year-old, adding that he had already read about the company in TheMarker. "This is the best of the entrepreneurs, who have a fire burning in their bones," explained Ben-Bassat. "At this age, thinking is pristine. They are a moment before the establishment quashes them, before the army, marriage, and obligations. Their technological level is so high that they have great confidence. They also know that technology geeks today get a lot of credit. They want to conquer the world, and our job is to feed the fire in proportion, without extinguishing it." Startupseeds, the Israeli Internet Center for Young Entrepreneurs, is a subsidiary of Madatech, the national museum of science and technology in Haifa. The company was created last October at the initiative of Michal and Yigal Lichtman (one of the founders of Magic Software) to encourage youngsters with an understanding of technology. Within a few months, a community of more than 1,000 children from all over the country, and mainly from the periphery, formed around the venture. Children from Kiryat Yam, Migdal Ha'emek, Afula, Lod and Hadera attended last week's event. They meet at the forum on the Startupseeds.com Web site and also at meetings and trips in the "real" world. The Web site allows youths to discretely send in applications and ideas that are reviewed by an advisory committee. "We provide assistance to anyone who gets past the committee, and if the idea is approved, we give the young entrepreneur up to NIS 12,000. He repays the money if the project yields results and all rights remain his," says Ben-Bassat. Ben-Bassat, the company CEO, is a popular blogger (notes.co.il/benbasat) and a one of the most veteran figures on the Israeli Internet. For a few minutes, he expresses displeasure with the strong desire of children to succeed. "I told you not to be show-off," he endearingly scolds one of the children who boasts about his business venture. "We help them, but we try to send a calming message. They're only kids; they're in school. We are constantly telling them that the success rates of startups are very low. Pulling society's strings In contemporary technology culture, those once thought of as geeks have become the people who pull the strings of the economy and of society. After computer wizards such as Bill Gates, Sergey Brin and Steve Jobs became millionaires who are even stars on the entertainment channels, more and more children are preferring them to pop and TV icons. Although having a good body is still far from being an obstacle, geekiness has taken shape as a real cultural alternative. The nerdy children who until not long ago made do with high grades and late-night discussions of "Star Trek," are being rebranded and finding themselves deep in the heart of prime time. If until recently the combination of mathematical formulas and thick glasses scared the franchisees and the advertisers, now reality shows are full of nerdy children. From "Revenge of the Nerds" to "Beauty and the Geek," the image of the brilliant child is an obsession of the media, even if one of the shows still ridicules them. However, along with public opinion, the geeks themselves have changed. Today's gifted children are no longer only busy with solving logic puzzles and memorizing Latin verbs. They are thinking about business. "The gifted children growing up in contemporary society are more tempted by successful professions from the economic point of view," says Avinoam Ben Zev, the head of the program for teaching gifted students at Oranim College. "They know that is where the big money is, and there they can get rich quicker. At the same time, the state also treats gifted children as a national resource. In the high-tech industry, for example, there is a limited number of very talented people, and they provide a very large contribution to the economy. The question is whether it is good that these kids are treated as a resource." Where are all the girls? Dan Levi, 15, from Jerusalem also participated in the conference. He has a small business for storing sites, with dozens of customers in Israel and abroad. "I already have 11 servers," he says. His blog, danlevi.name, bears the motto "children never grow up, but the prices of their toys do." He says he left school two years ago. "The education system is square," he writes on his blog. "That's why it can't recognize a child who is talented in any area, perhaps even a little more than the teacher. I'm not a person of frameworks, that's why I decided to leave. For good. Today, two years later, after a lot of water under the bridge, I'm the manager of my own company with over 100 clients." Does the fast track to success of the young technology geniuses cause them to give up the familiar experiences of adolescence? In her doctoral thesis, Dr. Inbal Shani-Zinovich of the University of Haifa checked the maturing process of gifted youth. "In gifted children, intelligence develops much faster than other elements," she says. "There are a lot of expectations of them as children, and that's why at a later age, difficulties relating to their self-definition may surface. In addition, sometimes they don't express themselves in areas that are not intellectual and that has a price. Identity is crystallized at a very young age and then the children who actually have many talents tend to limit themselves to one area, where they are strong. If there is a boy who is very talented in computers, he may form his identity and his self-image around this ability, and later on he will have fewer choices in comparison to others." And what about gifted girls? At the Tel Aviv University event, there was only one teenage girl, Dorin Zohar, a programmer who is studying at the Open University. Ben-Bassat says they managed to attract only a few girls to the project. "It's a pity there aren't more girls," he says. "The kids also want more girls. These are people who found their whole social environment through a screen, and they are blind to anyone who isn't in their field." "It's a complicated matter to be a gifted girl," says Shani-Zinovich. "In programs for gifted children, there are far fewer girls, and so they are a minority within a minority. It's hard to decide the reason for this. Are there fewer gifted girls during the age of adolescence or, unlike boys, they have the legitimacy to develop themselves in areas that are more emotional and less intellectual?" Bookmark to del.icio.us   Internal fighting Human rights groups say torture is widespread in Palestinian lockups. Danger looms Pentagon chief Robert Gates warns: War with Iran would be 'disastrous.'   1.   I`m not so sure...Israeli society is one of workaholism 12:49  |  Danny 30/07/08   2.   Youngsters and the high tech world 12:50  |  Sylvia Edelstein 30/07/08   3.   tomorrows leaders 17:01  |  Dr Noam 30/07/08   4.   Kol Hakavod 21:17  |  Proud Older Cousin 30/07/08   5.   Lack of a broad education, lack of Torah education 22:44  |  Sam 30/07/08   6.   Re: Youngsters and the high tech world 23:21  |  Alex 30/07/08   7.   In comparison to Hamas` military summer camp 02:23  |  Free Gilad Shalit 31/07/08

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