This is something ive wondered about since my first post, as a web host what is your background before you started your hosting business?

Were you in marketing? web design? web development? graphic design? or something completely unrelated to the internet?

I only ask as generally the majority of small web hosts use template design highlighting that perhaps there are few web designers or developers running hosting companies.

And in answer to my own question: i am from a web design background.

hmm, my background. Well I started with webhosting when I was 13. However before that, I worked for numerous companys as support, and sales getting paid and not receiving pay, just to learn the route. I was mostly a gamer. Then I started building websites for the games I played, and then started getting requests from friends about getting a website. So I set them up one, making small profits. Then I just started my own company.

(Still play my games though :) )

hmm, my background. Well I started with webhosting when I was 13. However before that, I worked for numerous companys as support, and sales getting paid and not receiving pay, just to learn the route. I was mostly a gamer. Then I started building websites for the games I played, and then started getting requests from friends about getting a website. So I set them up one, making small profits. Then I just started my own company.

(Still play my games though :) )
aka. quick buck.

aka. quick buck.
also aka kiddie host :P

also aka kiddie host :P
kiddie host? So I'm a kiddie host for having a background?

at least he has a background :p (looks at other posters) anyways how old are u now ipotweb? i doubt many can boast starting a hosting company at 13!!!

I'll get this topic back on track. I use to do web design many years ago. I know work as a windows sys admin. Running a linux web server is a pretty big change from the windows world, so its an interesting adjustment.

Well, I was an elementary school teacher :)

Software/Systems Programmer (C/C++, Java, VisualBasic)
My partner is a mechanical engineer, much older than me. He has 15 to 20 years of experience marketing parts used in oil refineries (burners, incinerators), data storage products.. worked even on a Differential Global Positioning System for Survey vessels.. So a very different background from hosting

Worked at a hardware/software reseller doing configs as a teenager, went to music school in Boston for college, did the retail and computer services track while trying to make it as a musician, moved to computer repair, then web-related technologies and web development (PHP, then Java, then mainly user interface programming in Struts/Tiles) for other people's companies. After that, hosting and web services.

Edited just to mention (since this thread goes off-track here and there) that the "configs as a teenager" was 20 years ago! Feeling old here!

kiddie host? So I'm a kiddie host for having a background?
A host running at age 13 = kiddie host in my book.

It's illegal to run a hosting business at that age anyway - not that many kids care about that.

i wasnt aware there was a age restriction, is there a height restriction as well??? :p im 23 so i think im past the 'age problem', maybe i need to start looking into the legality of running my business once its up and running, i wonder what the rules are for the UK!!!

Hmm, I do not know if its illegal but I do know web hosting is both stressful, time consuming, requires a huge commitment and can be very boring...

I do not see whats so attractive to a 13 year old in hosting. If you have a solid interest in computers, learn something new, intellectually stimulating. There is nothing intellectually stimulating in web hosting! Learn to write programs in C++, learn .NET.. work on maybe a really unique software/web concept... I've seen young teens be very successful as entrepreneurs.. try something different. I honestly don't understand the attraction in hosting.

i wasnt aware there was a age restriction, is there a height restriction as well??? :p im 23 so i think im past the 'age problem', maybe i need to start looking into the legality of running my business once its up and running, i wonder what the rules are for the UK!!!
Sarcasm?

Anyway - there isn't an age restriction, per say. However, you need to report your income and pay taxes on it - therefore your parents must know about this little 'business' of yours. Many times, kids who start a hosting company don't tell their parents, and therefore are running an illegal business. Additionally, if someone sues a kid-owned hosting company, what happens? Who actually gets sued? The parents, the 'company', the kid? I'd imagine it's the parents - which is absolutely horrible. There was actually a thread with a very similar situation a while back.

IMHO - starting a hosting business under age 18 is one of the worst ideas ever and is ruining the industry.

So kids, stop it. Don't start a hosting company - you'll be doing each and every one of us a favor.

My 2 cents.

Hmm, I do not know if its illegal but I do know web hosting is both stressful, time consuming, requires a huge commitment and can be very boring...

I do not see whats so attractive to a 13 year old in hosting. If you have a solid interest in computers, learn something new, intellectually stimulating. There is nothing intellectually stimulating in web hosting! Learn to write programs in C++, learn .NET.. work on maybe a really unique software/web concept... I've seen young teens be very successful as entrepreneurs.. try something different. I honestly don't understand the attraction in hosting.
Many kids think they can make a quick buck by getting into the hosting business. Because of how easy it is to get a $5 reseller account now-a-days, this happens very often.

Hosting is one of the easiest businesses to get into, but one of the hardest to succeed in. (hear that, kids?)

Just my 2 cents once again.

I do not think the parent becomes liable. You simply cannot sue a minor and if you are doing business with a minor, the risk lies with the customer.

I see nothing wrong with an older teen or younger adult starting a business (even if he's a minor, as long as he can do so legally with parental consent). However hosting is very competitive and time consuming. Unless you have a really creative innovative idea, I'd suggest focusing on something else..

I do not think the parent becomes liable. You simply cannot sue a minor and if you are doing business with a minor, the risk lies with the customer.

I see nothing wrong with an older teen or younger adult starting a business (even if he's a minor, as long as he can do so legally with parental consent). However hosting is very competitive and time consuming. Unless you have a really creative innovative idea, I'd suggest focusing on something else..
It isn't so much of a problem - it's just that nearly every kid who starts a hosting company offers horrible service, does it without parental consent, and therefore ruins the industry.

So , statistically speaking, it's a good idea to discourage kids from starting a hosting business - they don't have the time (they're in school, gotta remember that) nor experience to run a business properly. IMHO, they're better off with a lemonade stand or working at McDonalds if they're old enough. (and I think we agree on that point)

Btw - the parent is liable for actions their child takes . .

Yes, the market is very saturated, in fact so much saturated that if you drop a pin from moon towards earth, it would fall on a web host:) .

I started bits n pieces in compter back in poor old days of 1990.

There was no windows 95, no proper internet, no google. Imagine how poor it was.
I have studied, rather a unique subject which i suggested to the University as well to be taught as regular course.

Its computer's and internet's social, psycological, philosophical impact on modern world and humans.

The university unwisely:) did not start that course but i am still studying that subject and soon will complete my PHD thesis on that subject.

with that i am consultant with many Computer and internet companies and run my businesses as well and hosting is one of that.:)

Its boring isnt it so :uzi: me

Happy new year.

Thanks

Best buy tech -> HP Reseller: Computer Tech (A+ cert.) -> school UHV: CS degree -> pickup webhosting 2004 as hobby: interest -> currently finish school, got my CS degree, several interviews. still doing webhosting (i can't believe i'm not out of business) plan to do webhosting part time and work full time in IT.

started with one Win2k3 server with theplanet -> make some money bought some software -> got another server around june 2005 with LT (second Win2k3 server) -> got yet another server with LT (third one FreeBSD 5.x w/DirectAdmin) -> thanking God i got enought customers to pay for all these 3 servers.

for me, i'm not in it for the quick buck but a chance to learn something so as long as i don't have to pay out of my own pocket. i'll keep getting more and different servers and keep on trucking (learn). i'm in my late 20 already so ain't no kiddies host here.

cheer.

Well when I was younger, about 14 I think I was fascinated by the internet. I started to learn how to design sites, code them and I wanted to learn how the internet worked.

(Skip 5 Years)

I've been working in civil enginering for a year now, and thought why not invest some of the money I earn into something I enjoy doing.

So thats where I'm at today, self taught, doing something I like, and lets see how the next year plans out.

I started doing web design for myself and for friends in 1998. I picked up perl and began working more in scripting and development. In 2001 I was hired by an ISP as their webmaster and when that company was bought out I went to work for the new parent company. In 2004 I founded the Symphony OS Linux distribution and today I split my time between that, my day job as Director of Portal Services for the aforementioned company and working on other ventures. My latest of them is a webhost.

If you havent noticed, I spend very little time away from a computer (16-18hrs/day minimum) :)

OT, OT, OT... I see a lot of posts here which have nothing to do with "What's your background?" Get your own thread, boys.



My background:

• Sold a lot of Girl Scout cookies :)

• Cleaning toilets at a campground for 25¢ a bathroom (hey, kids were cheap then)

• Gobs of extra-curricular activities in high school, 90% of which had nothing to do with sports. I sucked at sports. Handbell choir, Newspaper Editor (I computerized the layout on an Apple IIe!), Theater (I did make-up and built sets), Manager of the Track & Field team, etc. etc.

• Six years of college at two colleges, during which time I worked or volunteered on-campus:
- R.A. (paid)
- Campus Security Dispatcher (paid)
- Editor of the College Newspaper
- Peer Advisor (paid)
- Radio Station DJ
- Sorority Member -- but dropped it :laugh:
- and, I typed papers for students for $1/page. This was back when most students did not have typewriters (or sucked at typing) and nobody knew how to even turn a computer on. :laugh:


Real-World Work:

• First Responder & EMT for 13.5 years :)

• Manager for campground & campground store

• State Park Naturalist

• State Park Ranger (yes, including the gun & everything :laugh:)

• Sheriff's Department Deputy (ditto)

• Nanny

• Freelance desktop publisher -- did some jobs for organizations & a local printer

and,

• Have owned & operated my own bricks-and-mortar retail business, 10 yrs.


I'm totally leaving out my internet experience/ties... I definitely saw the world before hooking up with the internet. And continue to see it. Sum it up to say, I came to the internet as a conusmer, and haven't lost touch with that perspective, hence why I built such a consumer-centric approach in my online businesses. :)

:) Bailey

I do not think the parent becomes liable. You simply cannot sue a minor and if you are doing business with a minor, the risk lies with the customer.

I see nothing wrong with an older teen or younger adult starting a business (even if he's a minor, as long as he can do so legally with parental consent). However hosting is very competitive and time consuming. Unless you have a really creative innovative idea, I'd suggest focusing on something else..

At least in the US your parents are legally responsible for all of your actions until you turn 18, so they would be the ones on the business end of any lawsuits.

My background was in soccer refereeing early, then moved to web design/development/hosting.

I was in university when I started hosting that was 10 years ago, work as an R & D engineer for a while while doing web hosting part time. Web Hosting soon became my permanent job and I quited my regular engineering job. Did not quit my studies though, still studying part time, having a Masters in Signal Processing, going on hopefully to become Dr Boon soon......

It's sad how people reply to a topic and then get flamed by half the people on WHT.

I've been in some form of Web Hosting for around 4 to 5 years. From normal, shared hosting on the user end to using WHM to host friends websites.
Then in 2004 after setting up several listen servers for gaming clans I'd played in I decided to open a Game Server Provider, which hit it's 1st year birthday in September. Then, in October I decided I'd lost too much with Game Servers due to how many kiddies want the lowest price they can get. So, me and a friend decided to start researching Web Hosting and we are hoping to open around the end of January 2006.

Well I started messing around with computers around 13 years ago and it's just developed from there. I began repairing and installing systems for local schools and businesses when I was about 13 and this still carries on today. I studied through my GCSE's and A Levels then attended the University of Nottingham (your neck of the woods sabian ;)) and got my degree in computer science.

After university I worked as a programmer(C/C#/C++ VB PHP ASP Oracle pl/sql)/engineer/support desk for a company providing aviation data solutions many of which were web based and involved maintaining multiple servers and working with many big airlines and airports throughout the uk. Earlier this year I decided to start hosting.

Thats all the relevant jobs anyway, been many more temporary ones which didn't provide any IT background :)

Surfed the web from 13-17 then started my own forums.
Sold my forums at 20, then started my own image host. Image host failed, then toke 1 year out to plan it, now I re-entered the scence again :)

Hm...well.

Started doing coding/web development. Went to school, got my degree (Bachelors of Science in Information Systems at Drexel University). Started reselling while in college, mainly to support the sites I developed. Graduated, went to work at a major webhosting firm, got experience in both IIS and Linux server administration. Which brings me back to where I am, back on my own.

I have been designing web sites since I was in high school. After graduating from local college in Corporate business management & administration, I started running a small computer retail store. I operated that business with first year sales of over a half million dollars. I sold that business in it's second year of operation and went on to become a partner in a new web site design and consulting business named PolarNet. I ran that busiess with my partner for 2 years with huge growth in our web services.

After 2 years, I took complete ownership of the company and renamed it to DG Consulting. I had moved into the hosting side of the business at that time with great success in our local market. Then, in 2004 I rebranded the company to DGC Technologies. With this new brand, I could create a more recognizable brand in an international marketplace.

That's my basic history.

Denny Gilbert

. . . I do know web hosting is both stressful, time consuming, requires a huge commitment and can be very boring...
Yeah, I agree with that, and with the boring part too. There can be times when there's really nothing to do, even back when I owned httpme. Hmmmm, maybe that's why I've spent so much time on WHT these years? :D :uhh: :eek2: :blush:

I'm retired, a grandpa and perhaps the oldest guy on the forum. In my other live I was in the military (2 yrs VN) Had my own business, sold it, retired.

My first job was working at a grocery store after high school. I took the money from that and I started a web hosting company which I would consider a success because it was profitable and well regarded on WHT. After about 2 years of doing that I decided I couldn't handle it anymore... it got to be too much so I sold it. I worked at the grocery store for almost 4 years and I would never go back!

Then I started thinking about what I really wanted to do...... got some certifications (A+, Network+, and then MCP). I then got a job in retail working at an electronics store that sold electronics, cell phones, ect. While doing that I completed my MCSA which lead me to where I'm at now...

I currently work at a hosptial doing user/network & server support, setting up new computers, ect. I love it, it can go from increadilby boring to really stressful when a server is down, drive failures, ect.

My future plans include to keep educating myself, update MCSA to 2003 & do as many certifications as possible so I can continue to move up in my department.

I still browse the forums here because the general topic is of interest to me. There is no way I would get back into the business though!

I'm new to this forum, but not to hosting in general. I've been informally providing hosting for the past few years (mainly to people in local communities, through friends, etc - word of mouth really is one of the best ways of getting business in this respect), while otherwise working on various programming/development projects (something I've been doing since I was fairly young), as well as providing some informal technical support for people in my local community. I'm currently at university studying Computer Science. I'm looking into the possibility of expanding my hosting business further - it has grown quite substantially in the past year alone - but of course that brings with it much more responsibility and the like, and I'd rather not just become another "fly-by-night" host as is often referred to here. We'll see how it goes, I guess...

Caregiver, Horticulturalist, PT Carpender, Dietitian, Information Broker (Found Missing People), Cell Phone/Pager Consultant, Sales, Fundraising, Travel Agent, Manager of Restaurant........none that have anything to do with Hosting & Design.

Well maybe the Info Broker, seeing as thats where I started to play around with site design, but that was a long time ago. The above is random from 94 onward, but I as most here, have been a geek from the start. When the internet was barely a twinkle & there was no such a thing as google.

I am lucky now, to be in ones presense that has a partner who previously owned another web/design company in the past, easier to learn more of the admin type work & learn more as I go.

Now, I am a mother (second on way), a home owner, a fiance, and a project/office manager & part owner......not too shabby I dont think. :)

A host running at age 13 = kiddie host in my book.

It's illegal to run a hosting business at that age anyway - not that many kids care about that.
Till you get good services no one care about the admin / owners age and qualification.

I started my career as a hardware dealer then shifted to web desiging and teaching then become a hosting reseller and last August started full fledge hosting company. :)

Hello Fellas,

I got into the hosting business after setting up a server at my home. I realized, I could do this, sell the service to others, and make a profit because it is in high demand. I let my friend see my discovery and we became business partners, and we began a hosting company that is well known, and hosts over 1,000 websites. Instead of continuing with that company, I took for a Job in Network Computing at our Local University and worked there for a while. While being there, I realized what kind of money could be made in the hosting world, so I took a chance, started my own business, hired some techs, and here I am today :-)

I started out as a youngster breaking into newspaper boxes for coins. Now before you say "tsk tsk" and scold me, you should know that I was all alone and living in an Eastern Bloc country that I am not allowed to name (or ever visit again) for legal reasons. When you're put in a position like that you have to adapt, ya dig?

Well, eventually I made my way to the Mediterranean and stowed away on a ship that I thought was headed for America. As it turns out, it was headed to Egypt. The cargo hold was loaded with rusted slot machines, mechanical "one-armed bandits," and several hundred 55 gallon drums full of human organs. The drums were marked "KEEP REFRIGERATED" but it was sweltering down there. So as it turns out, it was good that it was a short trip.

In Egypt I spent two years as a camel manicurist and satellite television installer, which were both great experiences for a 15 year old. I would recommend them to anyone out there who feels as if they have no direction in life. But certain things happened, words were said, and I had to leave Egypt on short notice, so I climbed on top of a bus headed Westward, thinking that Morocco was a few hours away. Two days later I fell off the bus in Tripoli, having survived on fruit bats that I caught at night and dew that I collected from the top of the bus in the morning.

I must have looked a mess, but Muammar Qadhafi's daughter happened upon me lying near the side of a dusty road and helped me find a place to rest and recover. I stayed in Libya for three years, siring several offspring with Ayesha, who now live in their grandfather's palaces and write me letters in crayon and the blood of infidels. Muammar was a gracious and generous host during my stay, and it was through him that I finally made it to New York, hidden in a diplomatic pouch with 400 million Libyan Dinars and a box of rare and dangerous desert reptiles.

Once in New York things really started to get interesting, but I'll save that for another time.

Then I got me a job on the World Wide Intranet!

My background is in IT, security and call center administration work. Not much more to it other than college where I majored in drinking and minored in failing. Not once but a few times now. Everything from CompSci to Lib Arts...

KGIII

A host running at age 13 = kiddie host in my book.

It's illegal to run a hosting business at that age anyway - not that many kids care about that.

In the UK, there isn't an age restriction in running your own business. I've consulted many people over that, with my parents. However, I'm not going to run a web hosting business untill I am over 18, and have finished all my education.

I'm just researching and planning at the moment, and will be for a while. For now, I'm gaining experience in this industry by working at a web host owned and maintained by an adult. The benefit of this, also, is that the guy which I am currently with may teach me about the systems which he uses.

I'm hardly immature either, I got my ICT GCSE at the age of 12 and am currently doing my A Level. For now though, I'll learn how to design websites, get some certifications from CompuTeach, and just boost my IT education. Therefore, if I decide not to start my own business, I can get a pretty kick *** job with a high salary. :peace:

I moved to the USA about 8 years ago from Lithuania.

I am not a web host, although I have tried running one along with my brother years ago. It was fairly successful with over 300-400 customers. We closed that after a while mainly due to the lack of time.

About 3 years ago, while still in college started another business with my brother www.hostvoice.com, a year later sold it to iNET Interactive (a company that owns webhostingtalk.com) :) All of the proceeds went toward our new projects.

Here I am 3 years later working with my brother full time along with 6 other people. In the mean time we have published a book (again with my brother as the co-author) and started the first print magazine covering the search marketing industry with close to 20k subscribers and counting.

Life is good! :)

Biology major at UT Austin - started a small project management software firm requiring PostgreSQL (at the time there were no real PostgreSQL hosting companies out there). So, I started my own (really by accident). It grew to a point where I needed somebody to manage it when I was sleeping.

Pondered for a few days, broke up with ex-girlfriend (free!), packed up bags and moved to India to run an outsourced support company - which spun into more than just that.

Roj

I'm soon to have a BAA in Marketing.

In business since 2001.

I've been developing websites for about 12 years now. Throughout that time I switched between freelance and actual jobs with web design firms. About five years ago, I was doing IT management and did that for 2 years. I pretty much have a background in a lot of things. Web design, development, programming, graphic design, hardware/software, networking, etc.

US submarine officer (LCDR)

- John C.

Started with web design, still do web design on side. Then moved into hosting, and looking to open up shop within the next few weeks :).

Actuary (Fellow, 1994)

Andrew

Started in the world of Macs about 14 years ago and moved into Irix (SGI for those that don't remember). That was my first Unix and we started an ISP and offered webhosting before webhosting was known. I remember putting up my first site when Yahoo put up their first rendition of their site. After the ISP sold in 1996 I kept all of the web hosting clients we had since the new company didn't want them. I ran it on the side while I worked for other companies. Most of the time was spent on the road so I never grew my company until 2000. Now I have several different related businesses that we run and hosting is always a mainstay for me, was just one of those things I always liked. I still have 2 customers from back in 1994 when we started the ISP which is cool.

Iam from a webdesigning background, my partners are from IT background, i do the designing and promotion they do the management part.

Got my first pc 18 years ago. mostly just wanted to play games and learn something new - I was an avid book reader but always loved technology as a kid. Growing up, I always wanted to be successful. The successful people in my family (there aren't many successful people in my family) were all educated in accounting... so I decided to follow suit. I've got a diploma in advanced accounting, and a bachelor of commerce that I earned by 20. But due to hard studies and keeping a job throughout my education (I had to pay my own way), the love of computers had to be shelved and I lost my chance to become uber geek tech god. Now I just have a decent grasp of things... but rewind a bit....

At 10 I had my first job, delivering a newspaper route. I eventually moved up to 3 newspaper routes and gave most of the money to my mom. At 13 I stopped the routes, mostly because we had moved away from that area.

At 14 I started working at a bingo hall 3 nights a week. I think I learned some excellent customer service skills working with all the cranky old timers playing their bingo. Worked at bingo until I was 19.

At 17 I was in a Co-op program through my highschool, that got me a placement in a bank here and a small accounting office that specialised in taxes - personal and small business. After graduating high school, I got a job at that same bank, doing several roles - from filing to CSR to the guy that let you into your safety box. I also started college at 18.

While attending college, I worked part time at the accounting office and part time at the bank. Finished college, applied to university. Applied for full time with the bank and was working tues-sat once school was finished. Was still working part time for the accounting office. Got accepted to a few universities, chose one that had an accelerated course load so I could graduate in 1 year by working 12 months straight. Quit both jobs and focused on getting my degree. Graduated, searched for a job for nearly 2 months, finally ended up back at the same bank for less money then before I left...

I was still searching for a *real* job when a chance to work in sales (not what I wanted to do, I wanted to be a numbers guy) for an internet company came up. Took it, because it was more exciting then CSR at a bank and I still had a love of computers hidden away in me. Eventually (2 years later) left that company to do some consulting in Europe. Consulting bailed after only 3 months because the owner of that company blew a million bucks USD on a stupid advertising scheme that all the employees in the company (and this consultant) advised against... scheme didn't work, no money left in the company so we all just stopped getting paid...

Came back home, decided to start a hosting company with a really good guy I knew. That was in 2000. Did well, signed a few large clients in the first year that allowed us to coast along. We both started other companies and have done other things for a few years, all while keeping the hosting company alive but on the back burner - the employees have been basically allowed to run the company and while they have done well, it lacks direction. Things like starting a family and such got in the way of business for a while. Now, however, it's time to turn it on again. Revamping a business like this is tons of fun, let me tell you.

I'm one of those "I liked the Internet back in 1995" kind of guys, but I've managed to cope with the direction things have gone.. I do some website development, but a significant part of my computing background is network and server administration. I've been hosting servers in my house since around 1997 (personal projects, not commercial hosting). I've been working in the commercial hosting industry for about a year and am going through the process of starting my own venture.

For me it was a bit of webdesign, but mainly programming and content writing.

I started doing support work at 13, then did did reseller hosting at 14 (yes I know...) until recently, then more than just family and friends were using the service and it was until then just a little aside to work, not full time job stuff anyway... Now on to our second dedicated server, running great, the experience for doing this for a few years before actually really going into it has been so useful! I know that the hosting with an under 18 wasn't a good idea, so i didnt tell anyone. Since the service has always been good, about 2 hours of downtime since we started, there's been people who have been with us for a while, who trusted me, I told them my age and to my amazment they didn't mind! I'm now running my company full time, although the bulk of the work is billing and support stuff. nothing major except a new server last week.

Also, I'm 16, I find since I have worked at a number of companies, and in the UK you can work full time legally from 16, running the business (with my more experienced partner from another company i have worked at) is not a problem, people should not be worried about under 18's running hosting companies IF the person running the company can actually be there to do the job, my rule? Never anyone under 16, I, from looking around and talking to people have decided that because, under 16's are at school, right? server down in school time could be 6 hours downtime! not good. over night? just as bad, since "little jimmy has to go to be a 9pm..." made my point? yes.
a host needs to offer 24/7 responce, and a service with people that know what they are doing. not a 13 year old who thinks they rule the world.

not a 13 year old who thinks they rule the world.

Erm, I'll have you know that me and fluffy the bear do actually run the world. :smash:

At least in the US your parents are legally responsible for all of your actions until you turn 18, so they would be the ones on the business end of any lawsuits.


Actually, it is perfectly legal to enter into a contract with a minor. The minor though, doesnt have to uphold their end of the agreement, yet the adult does. So if you got into a contract for services with a minor and paid them for a year up front, they could not do anything and keep the money. If parents were responsible for their kids contracts, then credit cards and car loans could be given to minors and the parents held liable if they didnt pay. Basically, don't do business with a minor.

An example one of my professors gave was that a kid had a fake id and everything, signed a loan for a corvette, drove it for a few months, and returned it (damaged) right before they turned 18. The dealership thought they were 18, they were deceived by the minor, yet the minor got off w/ not even a slap on the hand because minors can't enter into legally (on their end) binding contracts. The contract is still binding for the adult. Same principles apply to legally insane people and the like.

THE ABOVE IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE AND SHOULD NOT BE TAKEN AS SUCH...CONTACT YOUR ATTORNEY FOR LEGAL ADVICE. FOLLOWING THIS ADVICE IS DONE AT YOUR OWN RISK.

------

back to the original topic:

I started designed websites back in 93 for fun. Designed some sites for family friends growing up to pay for a car. Had various jobs but always did some web stuff on the side. Decided to start hosting to capture lost revenue from all the sites ive designed. Partnered w/ a friend who had the same situation and here we are today.

I was into computers/DOS/BBSing/ASCII Art as a kid and once I hit about 14 lost interest so I could hang with freinds (what kids that age should be doing) when I turned 20 I decided to get back into computers and went to school in Boston for my A+ and got a job at a retail store doing level 1 support.

They offered to send me to some classes to work on my MCSE which I made it about half way through and they made some cuts in our budget and I kind of lost interest so I decided to learn a little more about the web which is where I discovered Linux and got totally hooked on the OS due to the fact it reminded me so much of DOS (using the command line for everything) so I started learning more about Linux, Took a Linux+ CBT course and at the same time was running a retail site online and got frustrated with my host due to poor support/uptime and leased a server (Poor old raq3's) and about a year later started to look for hosting clients locally through some PC repair clients I worked for locally.

whew! that took longer than I thought it would :)

Web development, and hardcore to boot.

Have been running various sites. Having had fair share of troubles with amateur hosts, dediced to start a hosting business.

Being a developer had benefited the operations much. As we had delicate and hard-to explain problems due to nature of web development with other hosts before, naturally we have ensured that we wont have any such problems with our service ourselves first.

As a result none of our clients have been experiencing any similar problems of the sort.

Sarcasm?

Anyway - there isn't an age restriction, per say. However, you need to report your income and pay taxes on it - therefore your parents must know about this little 'business' of yours. Many times, kids who start a hosting company don't tell their parents, and therefore are running an illegal business. Additionally, if someone sues a kid-owned hosting company, what happens? Who actually gets sued? The parents, the 'company', the kid? I'd imagine it's the parents - which is absolutely horrible. There was actually a thread with a very similar situation a while back.

IMHO - starting a hosting business under age 18 is one of the worst ideas ever and is ruining the industry.

So kids, stop it. Don't start a hosting company - you'll be doing each and every one of us a favor.

My 2 cents.

I must say that I strongly disagree. I started doing shared hosting, etc. when I was 14 and now I have a very successful business. I filed my taxes correctly every year, as a sole proprietorship, until the company was officially incorporated in 2000, under the advisement of a lawyer.

I love working in this industry, it is everything I love doing rolled up into one. Had I not started that early I likely would not have found this industry. If I had started lookin for a career at 18 instead of 14 I would have likely ended up with something "easier" and I would have definitely gotten started in something with lower risk.

Take opportunities when they present themselves. Do not let opportunities pass by simply because you're too young. You'll never learn if you're capable of doing those things unless you go for it. I gave it a try, and now at age 22 I'm a self-made millionaire because of it. Then you're telling me that getting into this industry at younger than 18 is a terrible idea? I may be an exception to the rule, but that is enough proof to show that not EVERYONE under the age of 18 should be disuaded from running a hosting company.

As a note, I definitely agree with your statement, "Hosting is one of the easiest businesses to get into, but one of the hardest to succeed in. (hear that, kids?)" It took me 5 years of 6+ hour work days to get anywhere, and that is while going to school. It is definitely not easy if you want to succeed, but if you have the drive, you can succeed.

I totally agree with that, well said :)