Child investment advisers

If you’re a venture capitalist, it pays to have children these days – literally. One such told the New York Times that her daughters were her secret weapons. The daughters good-naturedly called themselves “lab rats.” These young people may be friends and family, the Times says, “but their impact can be broad, because venture capitalists not only help steer the development of new ideas but also invest billions of dollars in those ideas on behalf of investment groups and wealthy individuals.” Interestingly, this is new. It was not the case during the dot-com boom. But this is Web 2.0, the youth-driven as well as user-driven Web. It’s probably why Time magazine’s Person of the Year for 2006 is You. As Time, “look at 2006,” and you’ll see a story that “isn't about conflict or great men. It's a story about community and collaboration on a scale never seen before” – the year of MySpace.com, YouTube.com, and Wikipedia.org.