Young consumers have long been the targets of suppliers of goods and  services, but today we are seeing more and more products or services that are developed by the young generation. I think Mayfield fund also sees a growing market in this sector. As Janice mentioned, new technologies are so pervasive nowadays that people of different ages can enjoy. Still, the youth are the most tech savvy consumers, and the way they consume will inevitably change the way of advertising, marketing, and the strategies of VCs.

Janice's assertion that people are becoming more impatient with "search" is certainly worthy of discussion.  Though more and more companies are coming up with a variety of search options (take mobile phones, for example, with their abilities to search news, weather, etc.), it seems that the general population has difficulty accessing all the information available to them on these new devices.  Is the consumer becoming overwhelmed by the vast array of options available to him?  Perhaps the consumer is still interested in purchasing the technology in order to align himself with the trends when in fact he is not really using all of the "search" options at his disposal.

Last edited by Megan.Doheny (2007-01-17 23:42:44)

I also agree that it is essential for youth to be involved in the design and organization of products in the future, as Danielle mentions the creative possibilities are expanded much farther than tradtitional methods of thinking.  The collaboration between experienced professionals and idealist younger people can lead to innovative products and improvements across a variety of industries.

The big thing that  I don't like about VCs and people who are trying to be innovative or trying to be the next big entrepreneur (and I understand that this is probably what VCs are all about and this may not always be a negative thing) is that they follow two critical rules: they try to create false "need" and they target the best  people who don't understand what they "need" and "don't need," in other words "youth" and "children."  The target age group for new products and ideas is getting younger and younger, increasing the desire in children for new technologies or playing around with other new products.  This is also reflected in online advertising; as more and more children are gaining access to the internet (I know a seven year old girl that checks her myspace multiple times a day), their eager eyes are the selected target for new companies to inject images of new and bright and attention grabbing products that will make children spend their money or beg their parents until they spend their money.  I know VCs fund a lot of good ideas; it is just the unneccessary ones that I don't agree with and wish weren't here.  My goal someday is to couple the idea of entrepreneurship (which I believe to be a fantastic one) to something that will truly benefit society for truly positive reasons.

I believe that youth is a source of inspiration for the companies, in the sense that the needs of young people are the factor that mainly affects the comsumers' needs in the future. Therefore, the companies can make their future plans based on today's youth needs. But, this is what happens from the companies point of view. Now, as far as the question if this inspiration is a healthy one or not; this is something that young people, as consumers and not as promoters, should think about.

I think that the "youth grows up" model of industry growth is an interesting one, and I wonder about the extent to which this idea might be used as a long-term investment strategy.  Ms. Roberts mentioned at the beginning of her talk that technology is going mainstream, with even her father complaining about the lack of wi-fi service at his local pub.  However, I think that this increased acceptance of computer technology among older age groups is at least partly due to social norms about the public use of such technology established by fashion trendsetters, who are predominantly young.  It may be that, for many technologies, it just takes a generation for them to take hold in the mainstream because that's how long it takes people who are comfortable with those technologies from childhood to grow up and become powerful consumers.  For people who grew up watching analog TV with commercials, it may take until the kids who are used to watching digital video clips on the internet grow up for them to be truly initiated into the possibilities inherent in the new way of consuming video entertainment.  What other changes will be championed by the generations too young to currently hold a job?  I think that investors who respect the preferences of the very young (as many older people failed to do with video games) are likely to be well situated ten or so years down the road.