Facebook Inc (FB), Google Inc (GOOG): Lifestyles of the Young and Wealthy

Apparently, Turner was happy to sell the company and move on. He’s now working on his next big thing, Flatiron Health. The new company is an oncology focused data tool, which is supposed to help cancer care providers get more insight into their patients’ needs and conditions. Only time will tell if it takes off.

Succeeding on their own, or not
It wouldn’t be a very good story without a little cautionary tale. Groupon Inc (NASDAQ:GRPN) founder Andrew Mason hit the big time in 2011 when Groupon went public, and he was just over 30 years old. He still owns about 7% of the company, and is worth hundreds of millions of dollars. But financial success didn’t guarantee business success, and Mason proved himself to be a less-than-competent leader. In his public resignation letter, Mason said, “From controversial metrics in our S1 to our material weakness to two quarters of missing our own expectations and a stock price that’s hovering around one quarter of our listing price, the events of the last year and a half speak for themselves. As CEO, I am accountable.”

Mason’s failure should act as a sobering reminder for newcomers like D’Aloisio. As an entrepreneur, you’re only as good as your last idea. The other lesson might be, “If you fail, it doesn’t really matter because you’ll be stupidly rich anyways.” Let’s hope D’Aloisio learns the first lesson.

Foolish final thought
The fact is, age doesn’t matter when it comes to generating great ideas. Even companies and backers that fail should be applauded for seeing that the next big thing could come from anyone. The main problem with youth is that it lacks experience. Zuckerberg is a great example of a young genius who recognized his weakness as a leader and business operator. Instead of pulling a Mason, he has surrounded himself with people like Sheryl Sandberg and David Ebersman, who know how good businesses run and have the experience to keep things moving in the right direction.

As investors, we should always be on the lookout for smart, young start-ups. But we can’t be blinded by flashy toys and neat ideas. We need to be able to see past the initial premise to determine if the person behind it is a future leader or a future failure.

The article Lifestyles of the Young and Wealthy originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Andrew Marder has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Facebook and Google. The Motley Fool owns shares of Facebook and Google.

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