From the author: Small observations about the life of young entrepreneurs “Guys, what if tomorrow you die without feeling real freedom?” - says a Harley-Davidson advertisement. Indeed, a cramped and suffocating office, the framework of a hired routine threatens to crush you and your potential. So maybe the solution is to find your own big business? Perhaps... I recently attended the “You Are an Entrepreneur” Program as an expert. The goal of the program is the development of youth entrepreneurship in the Kaliningrad region. It’s certainly a necessary thing and the organizers are great. Otherwise, in Gazprom the dreams are already over. In general, all the guys performed well. Taking your project to experts is already an important and responsible step. And the experts were very serious! In general, everything was great. Once upon a time in my childhood there was the film “Is It Easy to Be Young?” Is it really easy to be a young entrepreneur? Reviewing about twenty business projects of young people allows us to identify some trends that reflect the vision of a young entrepreneur’s career and characterize his image. For “debriefing” we use the power of the “dark side” of Arkady Moreinis.1) Idea. Poverty of entrepreneurial ideas. With rare exceptions, all ideas boil down to opening another online store or retail store. Moreover, they are getting into the most highly competitive market segments - meat, beer, fashion, amber. To the question, what will be different? - No answer. There is no strategy - what kind of entrepreneurial career are we talking about then? 2) Product. There is no USP. The whole philosophy lies in the message “Take someone else’s product and sell it.” 3) Money. Projects worth several million rubles. From the store to the water park. To the question “Where will you get the money?” - there is no clear answer. Founders, Family, Friends? And in response - silence. I'm not even talking about taking into account borrowed funds in the financial model. I just want to sing - “My finances sing romances...” 4) Market and Competitors. Analysis of the market and competitors - bad manners. Indeed, why? 5) Stage. Where are you now? Hypothesis testing? – haven’t heard.6) Founder. Who are you? Team? Complete lack of competence in what they offer. Do you want to open a draft beer store? - Well, at least work as a waiter in a bar in the summer. Only the desire to sell. There are no like-minded people. And this is not surprising - there are no exciting ideas.7) What do you need? There are no developed financial models. Fixed costs - a bag of bricks. Income is justified according to the method “It’s good under the skies, Like in a boat with sails, Together with true friends, Sail wherever your eyes look...”. The investor is shocked! 8) Presentation skills. That's what I was really surprised by. The presentation was in the style of “Death By PowerPoint” by Alexey Kapterev. But the ability to convey the key ideas of a project and present oneself competently is the key to building a successful personal brand, which will then work for the entrepreneur. “We sell our faces,” say experienced businessmen. They buy not a product, but a person.9) Marketing tools. They know the smart terms, but there is no understanding. Apparently in universities they force you to learn terms, but do not explain the essence. They don’t give you the keys, they hide them! Of course, it’s easy to criticize, but it’s difficult to do. It’s not the fault of young guys that propaganda in the media says one thing, but schools and universities don’t teach how to achieve this. The secrets of the secret formula “Consume cannot be produced” are not revealed. They don’t direct you to first become specialists in your own small business, do something yourself, and then look for a BIG AND THICK DREAM. And of course the motto “Learn, study and study again” together with “Do, do and do again” remains relevant. The analysis reveals systemic problems in youth business education. There are a lot of disciplines in universities, but there are no subjects that are very important in real life, such as “personal image”, “how to build your career”, “business correspondence”, “negotiation”, “business presentations”, “Internet communications” ", etc. By the way, I can add that adult businessmen are students of the MBA programs where I teach!