Entrepreneurship explained to my kid (#1)

My son is turning 10 today.

As any father, I feel very happy and proud of all the love and joys that we’ve shared so far.

Something struck me today: a few days ago, he started playing with a 3D printer that we had borrowed from a friend working in the industry.

Last week, my son started printing some small 3D sculptures, and then seeing interest from friends at school, began to sell some of them for a few bucks (“articulated lizard” seemed to attract a lot of attention).

The next day, he began to plan how he could improve what he was offering to his classmates (bigger items, more colors, personalized,… ) and how he could use the money earned into buying more and better material (new filament with a glow-in-the-dark effect, a bigger and faster printer).

However small, we both realized that there was a plan to this, and we figured (but in different ways) that something has changed, that he was somehow engaged on a path of entrepreneurship.

Although I’m heavily involved in the startup scene, as an entrepreneur, investor, and trainer, I had until now not especially pushed him towards any idea of entrepreneurship (save for a waffle sale last summer). I love entrepreneurs, but I also believe that childhood is a time for so many more experiences : from drawing to running, and doing all sorts of silly things. Starting a commercial activity can come so much later, there is no need to rush in “baby boss” mode.

However, his interest in improving his fledgeling commercial activity seemed genuine and coming from his own desire, so I thought I might as well try and help him in this endeavour.

I usually share my thoughts on entrepreneurship with engineering students in college, so adapting the approach to a pre-teen kid will be an interesting experiment for me.

(TBC)