Ben Casnocha, the entrepreneur-philosopher who is dispensing the accumulated wisdom of his 19 years in a new book, is cagey about the actual details of his business. 'Big Ben' tells a New York Times reviewer that the financials of Comcate, the firm upon whose supposed success he's based his new role as a guru, have been withheld for "proprietary reasons." No wonder he's so discreet: it transpires from the article that Comcate, a service firm which builds websites for local governments, has burned through $250,000 in investment; it's only now "self-sustaining"; and the $1m-a-year revenue number, of which Casnocha boasted, is merely a forecast for the current year. Of course, it's in no reporter's interest to question the self-promoting entrepreneur too closely; the tale of a whiz kid loses some if its appeal if it turns out that the kid isn't much of a whiz.</img>


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