Teenager today, tech exec tomorrow

PALO ALTO, CALIF.--A handful of enterprising teens have a message for parents and the media: the Net is not all MySpace or Facebook horror stories.

In the crowd here at the "Next Generation Tech: Tech Plugged" conference, some teens are talking up their Web start-ups and technology inventions, a sign that--like the average cell phone user--the profile of a tech entrepreneur is getting younger and younger.

Ben Casnocha, for example, kicked off SD Forum's half-day event at Hewlett-Packard by talking about how he started an e-government software company at age 14. A San Francisco Bay Area resident, he got the idea from a sixth-grade class assignment in which he helped to clean up the dirty seats at the 49ers football stadium. With virtually no way to complain about the condition of the seats, he set out to create a complaint-and-resolution Web site. What ultimately resulted from the project was Comcate, a Web-based software company for public agencies to handle customer service.

Now 19, Casnocha sits on Comcate's board, promotes his advice book, My Start-Up Life, and travels around the country talking to college kids. Casnocha believes technology has created a golden age of entrepreneurship among his generation.