Entrepreneur! CEO! Dreamer! Philosopher!

It may seem cruel to pick on Ben Casnocha. The young entrepreneur, still only 19 years old, seems well-meaning. His advice on business — which the mentor-magnet picks up from more grizzled executives such as Marc Benioff, and recycles on his blog — is standard enough. But 'Big Ben's' self-aggrandizing auto-biography, which is now listed on Amazon.com, crosses the line of good judgement.

In My Start-up Life, the multi-talented teen — entrepreneur! optimist! CEO! dreamer! philosopher! road warrior! — shares what he learned on his journey through Silicon Valley. "With the support and advice of some of Silicon Valley's brightest minds, Casnocha crammed a lifetime of business experience into just a few years, all of which he shares in this unique book," runs to the blurb.

As far as we're concerned, Casnocha's now of legal age; and the jacket's breathless promotion creates a public persona against which we're entitled to judge him. What's his business experience? He's attached himself to execs such as Marc Benioff, who are flattered by his adulation. Which puts him somewhere alongside Koa, a beloved golden retriever, in the Salesforce CEO's affections.

And the teen prodigy's business, Comcate, must be in the least promising market possible, sales to local government. The Comcate founder boasts $1m in revenues per annum. Let me share from my lifetime of business experience: that number, after five years of operation, hardly merits an entry in a resume, let alone a publishing debut as Silicon Valley's latest business guru.

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