I always loved this idea of business, it allows for you to make some extra money when you have time. I remember another product a couple of years ago that didn't do so well. It was located in Georgia, it has since closed down. The biggest problem they had was with the ability to scale this product to keep the attention to customers high while keeping costs low.
Russians have been doing this for years, without any company involved. Don't want to wait for taxi or trams? Just put your arm out, and someone will stop, and you tell them where you want to go and ask 'how much'? They call them private drivers.
Want to make some extra money on the weekend? Be a private driver. Hang out near tram stops and you will get customers..
I am 17, and I have found that a lot of people don't really care if you can prove you know what you are doing. Whenever i'm talking to big people, I act as if I am 24. They usually ask your age at some point, I usually just say "It doesn't matter". If they pressure, then I give in and tell them, usually leading them to be more impressed than anything else. Just prove you are the right man for the job.
I really like his point on the premature scalability having a big effect of a startup's failure proability. It's really a hard thing to make sure you are not growing too fast or too slow. It's much easier when you are bootstrapped, since you only scale when the profits tell you. The problem arises when dealing with startups that aren't bootstrapped and have that extra capital laying around that is supposed to be used for scaling, but there is no indication on when to start the process.
You make a good point with people relating PhD's with the amount of money you will make. PhD's not only have a cost of paying for university but also opportunity cost is also existent. Also I completely agree with your comment on the idea that you can live comfortably, not rich on a PhD.
