How old do you think a hosting company owner is on average?

R

RobAPI

New member
Hello
How old do you think the average hosting company owner is?

I think the age has really gone down in the last few years because of reseller accounts and the price to startup.

A lot of people start a hosting company on reseller accounts but dont have the time or experience to help their clients
 
Going by basic langauge skills of many postings on some of the boards, I'd suggest the age is quite low.

As you say it's easy to get a cheap reseller for pocket money these days.

It's not just the companies with reseller accounts that don't have the time / experience to help, I've had problems with several reseller providers who can't manage their dedicated server :-(
 
That's true monaghan. When EV1 lowered server prices a whole new breed of web host started. Now that you can get servers as little as $60 a month everyone thinks they can be a web host. I have seen a growing number of young people getting involved. But I have ran across older people starting host companies that shouldn't.

I personally do not have a problem with age if the person runs the host properly. But to many people get in only considering the cost of the server. Without consideration of support and admin cost.
 
I think there is a huge number of teens now in the hosting industry.
I dont have a problem with anyone of any age starting a hosting company, what I do have a problem with though is people starting a hosting company and not having the money, time or experience to run it.
Like Rox Off just said.

Also, anyone under 18/21, depending on where they live, they may not be able to deal with money for legal reasons.
Because of that they might not be allowed to legally trade, even online as the laws still apply.

I still think a lot of people underage are setting up accounts to accept CCs, paypal accounts (not sure if there is an age restriction for that) and accepting payments, if anything happens and they do a runner, what can the law do against them to protect their customers as they are still considered minors in the eyes of the law.

I think that is one thing which can cause problems, especially when many young people lose interested in "projects" they start very quickly and this can leave people hanging, even leave businesses that have signed up with them hanging.
 
monaghan said:
Going by basic langauge skills of many postings on some of the boards, I'd suggest the age is quite low.
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My basic language skills is due to the fact that I'm actually Norwegian and I'm sure there are others here who are not native english speakers.
 
Age?

I would say 25, the hosting biz is farely new and honestly I owned my first hosting company when I was 17. Of course it failed but since college I have been prosperous and now I am enjoying myself.
 
I always feel uneasy about these threads.

Aside from the legal reasoning mentioned by someone else above, I have no problem going with a host who is under 18, provided they know what they're doing. It's the legal / accountability aspect that bothers me. If things go kerflooey, what assurances I have that the person in charge will be legally held accountable for their (in)actions, if indeed the fault lies with the provider?

One of my clients is an individual in their 40s who knows their particular niche market very very well. However, this person knows very little about being a web host, which is what they're trying to do. They don't know how to do basic mail troubleshooting. They don't know how to check for nameserver errors. (In translation: they know barely more than your average web user, but they've been getting away with charging firms for their services - and getting the money to create, host, and maintain the sites in question.) With this particular individual, it isn't the age, it's the ignorance level. They should have done more research before setting themself up as a web host. When the person first came to me and asked about hosting services, I said, "Windows or Linux?" Their reply? "I don't know." Even now the individual shows a marked lack of interest in learning much more than is absolutely necessary to collect their monies.

That said, I'm in my mid-30s, which probably makes me ancient around these parts.
 
maxhest said:
If you use your parents name, or your bank account, it's yours. You can accept whatever!
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That is not necessarily true. You can setup a bank with a parent's name. However the method you recieve payments is effected. Paypal for instance is one. Paypal terms require the user to be over 18. So if a parent setups an account and minor uses the account. That is still a violation of thier terms and can result in the account being frozen. The same could aaply to 3rd party processors and merchant accounts. Very strict rules apply to the use of the accounts so that all parties are protected.
 
I would say 25, the hosting biz is farely new and honestly I owned my first hosting company when I was 17. Of course it failed but since college I have been prosperous and now I am enjoying myself.
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How much experience do you have in the hosting industry now?

I think the main problem with hosting with someone under 18 is the legal issues.

If you use your parents name, or your bank account, it's yours. You can accept whatever!
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That isnt true at all.
They must own the business and do all legal transactions in their name. You cant do any transactions in your name if you are under 18, even if you are using your parents credit card, bank account, paypal account etc.

Basically I think everything has to go through an adult of legal age if you are under 18, if you arent, you cant do any transactions because its illegal, you cant be held responsible if anything goes wrong and legal action cant be taken against a minor (I think but Im not totally sure about this)
 
gooooogle said:
My basic language skills is due to the fact that I'm actually Norwegian and I'm sure there are others here who are not native english speakers.
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That's true, My native language is not English ;)
 
well, personally if you are over the age of 30 you shouldn't be directly involved with the clients unless it is a PR type thing. The younger crowd tends to communicate better. Average age would have to be around 22.
 
FatalSw1tch said:
well, personally if you are over the age of 30 you shouldn't be directly involved with the clients unless it is a PR type thing. The younger crowd tends to communicate better. Average age would have to be around 22.
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That is a weird statement. Do your communication skills disappear once you reach the 30's? :p I think it depends on each individual and what he/she prefers to do.

In general I would say, that the hosting industry is quite young and so are the people who work in it on average. 20's and 30's are probably average.

Christoph
 
FatalSw1tch said:
well, personally if you are over the age of 30 you shouldn't be directly involved with the clients unless it is a PR type thing. The younger crowd tends to communicate better. Average age would have to be around 22.
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This statement does not make sense for me. The majority of my clients are 20 and older. I have quite a few older users(50+). What I have noticed with younger people is the use a jargon/slang/net-talk. If you are communicating with a grandmother she may likely not be familiar with text message slang or abbreviations. This all ties into a trend I have noticed about younger online users who communicate frequently via IM and email. With the growth of net-talk some users do not take the time to learn and develop written communication skills.

As for average age that also depends on the market and type of hosting company. I am familair with numerous host and employees that are 35+. Take a look a some of the larger hosting companies that actual have management and you will find older people. You find so many young people due to the ease of starting a host company. How many of the younger companies last? How many grow to be large or corporate?
 
I think the a great way to prove that you are of legal age and mature enough to run your business is to actually register the business, and somewhere on your site POST your business ID and maybe a quick link image to a business group you belong too.
 
you have to understand my post was talking about generilization of the industry it's self, and every person is unuqie and needs to be treated in their own mannar.

The point about the younger crowd is because look at who most of you target in the industry. 16 - 26 year olds are normally targeted. That is why we have this "bargan" market.

The age I spoke of "30" is not a good indicator so I must give an example and this does matter on who the person is.

Example:
Robert Marsh of ev1servers. I have not seen him directly involved in the selling of this products, other then announcements or normal duitys of his positition. Robert does how ever communicate with any client that wishes to make the effort. I have talked to Robert a few times and he is a great guy.

The fact of the matter is everyone has to start some were. Age does not deitermen service or quility of the service. I will agree however that no one under 18 should attempt to open a hosting company.
 
Vovex Technology said:
I think the a great way to prove that you are of legal age and mature enough to run your business is to actually register the business, and somewhere on your site POST your business ID and maybe a quick link image to a business group you belong too.
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That information can still be faked :( Some little kid would find a way to fake it an then put a bad name to who ever he faked being a group of :eek:
 
Well I am 40+ so that ought to bring the average up a bit:lol:
I personally don't think the age of a person is the issue either as long as they have the maturity to run a business and know that the business must be above all else such as fun.

I know a host in her 30's and she treats it as a hobby, and her clients reflect it. They don't mind if they can't reach her for days at a time because they aren't paying much for the service, for me though I couldn't stand it.

Then we have a young man that is a part of this forum who I chat with almost daily, he is smart, very business minded, has set goals for where he wants to be and what he wants to make and he knows what it will take to get there, I tell you I wish I had been as dedicated at 13 as he is. He isn't a host but he may be one some day and I would recommend him if he did become one because of his attitude and willingness to do the right thing.

So see age doesn't really make that much difference. Also youth tend to be willing to listen to new ideas so if you see a young one don't be afraid to share your skills or knowledge to make them even more capable.
 
I have had hosts which I know were under 18, didn’t know when I signed up but do now.
IMO a lot of people under 18 don’t have the communication skills or managerial skills to run a full time business, such as hosting.

The owner of a hosting business must communicate well with their customers, they must know how to communicate in a professional or casual manner depending on the client and the situation.
A few of the hosts I went with that were under 18 had a very bad attitude towards all their customers and had very poor communication skills, for example writing abbreviations in support replies, eg. “I will fix this 4 u” etc.
I would rather someone use full words with me when its related to my business to be honest.
It just gives me a better impression of their business and the knowledge and expertise for the industry, I have to say abbreviations like above don’t inspire confidence in a company for me.

There is also the legal implications, I wouldn’t do business with someone under 18 because they cant be held liable for any problems and they are underage to be doing transactions in the first place.

A lot of teenagers don’t have time to run a hosting business and dedicate the time it deserves, although I do know there are exceptions to this, I have just had bad experiences with this in particular.

I also think people of a young age get bored of what they are doing very quickly.
Many take up things as “Projects” and once they get bored, they just leave it and move on to the next project.
I know I was even like this myself and there’s nothing wrong with that at all, but when you have people depending on you it’s a different matter.

The last thing I would have to say about is that any business owner needs the maturity to deal with unhappy customers, in the hosting industry any host WILL come across an unhappy customer at some stage.
The main thing when you do come across one is how you deal with them.
This reflects a huge amount on your company, If I saw a host handle an unhappy or even angry customer well, it would really attract me to that company and give me confidence that they know what they are doing.
I think our maturity level increases with our age and experience of life, IMO some teen hosts do not have a high enough level of maturity to deal with their unhappy customers, I don’t have personal experience of this but have seen examples of it numerous times where the host just turns on the customer and starts to flame them.

Well that’s everything I have to say :)
 
I personally do not have a problem with age if the person runs the host properly. But to many people get in only considering the cost of the server. Without consideration of support and admin cost.


I have to agree with this posted statement entirely. Age has little to do with it really, but for the record I am 38.

Yes that old before the comments start.




u2-web.com
 
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