Startup founders, how old are you?
55 comments
In my opinion, startup founders hit mid life crisis in their early 20s. Considering Paul's influence on YCombinator, I am guessing that is the age group most of us belong to. So go ahead and share with us your age.
I just turned 22 today :)
I just turned 22 today :)
"In my opinion, startup founders hit mid life crisis in their early 20s."
I'd agree with that. I'm 25 and sometimes wonder if I'm over the hill.
Then again, my boss in my day job (sole founder and CEO) is almost 50. So it's not *impossible* to start late. I have noticed that it makes things difficult, culture-wise. The startup I'm at has a very 9-5 culture and tends to move fairly slowly, which is frustrating for young, ambitious hires like myself. It does have customers and manages to turn a profit, but I worry that we're falling behind the technology curve and may find ourselves without customers if a major market shake-out occurs or a competitor invades.
I'd agree with that. I'm 25 and sometimes wonder if I'm over the hill.
Then again, my boss in my day job (sole founder and CEO) is almost 50. So it's not *impossible* to start late. I have noticed that it makes things difficult, culture-wise. The startup I'm at has a very 9-5 culture and tends to move fairly slowly, which is frustrating for young, ambitious hires like myself. It does have customers and manages to turn a profit, but I worry that we're falling behind the technology curve and may find ourselves without customers if a major market shake-out occurs or a competitor invades.
All through my early startups I had a lingering feeling deep down that maybe I was too young- in over my head. Then one day I wake up and I'm feeling like maybe I'm too old- what if I missed the sweet spot or something? So my recommendation to all, young and old- ignore it.
Every time I hear someone older say they are getting forgetful because of their age (unless they really have dementia) I laugh inside, because everyone forgets stuff all the time- it's just that when you're older you have an excuse to pin it on. If your boss is 50 and the company is sluggish and behind the culture and curve, then it's your boss's disposition that made it so, not his age. It's a kind of slow culture that anyone turning a profit can get stuck in.
Every time I hear someone older say they are getting forgetful because of their age (unless they really have dementia) I laugh inside, because everyone forgets stuff all the time- it's just that when you're older you have an excuse to pin it on. If your boss is 50 and the company is sluggish and behind the culture and curve, then it's your boss's disposition that made it so, not his age. It's a kind of slow culture that anyone turning a profit can get stuck in.
I also agree with this observation, but it's clearly an unrealistic expectation that we should all be accomplished and nearing retirement by the time we're 30.
I'm a 22 year-old learning animal. I expect to get my ass handed to me every time I deal with someone my senior; given the experience I've had with my first start-up, I've found this to be par for the course.
While I believe that I have it in myself to build the foundation for a highly profitable company, I also expect that my ability to build great companies will only improve with age.
I'm a 22 year-old learning animal. I expect to get my ass handed to me every time I deal with someone my senior; given the experience I've had with my first start-up, I've found this to be par for the course.
While I believe that I have it in myself to build the foundation for a highly profitable company, I also expect that my ability to build great companies will only improve with age.
Happy Birthday python_kiss!
I just turned 0o25 myself. Or just 0x15.
Mid life crisis in early 20s = Quarter life crisis? A lot of people have it in the years after they graduate when they realise they're just trapped in an office. A startup might just be our equivalant of buying a sports car.
I just turned 0o25 myself. Or just 0x15.
Mid life crisis in early 20s = Quarter life crisis? A lot of people have it in the years after they graduate when they realise they're just trapped in an office. A startup might just be our equivalant of buying a sports car.
Happy Birthday!
Hopefully by your 23rd you'll be getting ready to retire :-)
Hopefully by your 23rd you'll be getting ready to retire :-)
Heh, funny this should come up now. I'm turning 29 tomorrow. Go Marchites.
Eighteen...:D
Feeling like an old fart here...I'm 33.
I'm career changing and going back to school. I should be done with my CS degree in two years. While I'm finishing school, though, I'm setting up my life to be a serial founder. I'll be 35 at that time.
I know that's breaking the mold, but I've had some time to set things up:
When I'm done with school, I will make a decent living working part time. I have moved to Silicon Valley. I will have my team together. We won't be betting the farm while iterating through startup ideas.
I'm sure it won't all be a bed of roses, but I think there's something to be said for taking time to prepare for a life of uncertainty.
I'm career changing and going back to school. I should be done with my CS degree in two years. While I'm finishing school, though, I'm setting up my life to be a serial founder. I'll be 35 at that time.
I know that's breaking the mold, but I've had some time to set things up:
When I'm done with school, I will make a decent living working part time. I have moved to Silicon Valley. I will have my team together. We won't be betting the farm while iterating through startup ideas.
I'm sure it won't all be a bed of roses, but I think there's something to be said for taking time to prepare for a life of uncertainty.
With all respect, if you're planning to found companies what do you need a degree for? Backup plan? It seems like an odd choice to me.
Finishing my degree has been a personal goal for a while. I also know that I have a few gaps in my self-education that I want to fill in before I take the plunge.
That being said, I'm taking the summer off school to work on a project.
That being said, I'm taking the summer off school to work on a project.
37 and smarter than you little snot-nosed whipper-snapper holligans! And turn the music down!
So far, the approximate average age for a founder based on the responses is (27.8)
--
require 'hpricot'
sum = 0 count = 0.0
file = Hpricot(File.open("comments.htm","r"))
file.search("span.comment/font") do |line| if line.inner_html =~ /([^\s][0-9]+[.,\s])/ number = $1.strip.to_i if number gt 10 && number lt 70 sum += number count += 1 end end end
puts "average age of founder is: " + sprintf("%.1f",sum/count)
--
require 'hpricot'
sum = 0 count = 0.0
file = Hpricot(File.open("comments.htm","r"))
file.search("span.comment/font") do |line| if line.inner_html =~ /([^\s][0-9]+[.,\s])/ number = $1.strip.to_i if number gt 10 && number lt 70 sum += number count += 1 end end end
puts "average age of founder is: " + sprintf("%.1f",sum/count)
I am 32 and recently married. For me the trick is to get this thing started before we have any kids, as I am doing my startup in addition to a 9-5 (for now) and I know having rugrats competing for my attention will be a major demotivator.
The founders of the company I work for during the day are late 30s and one of them about 50.
The founders of the company I work for during the day are late 30s and one of them about 50.
The average YC founder is about 25. The range so far has been from 19 to (I think) 33.
Paul, is the YC demographic a good representative of the average startup founder's age? Judging from your articles, I sense that there is a certain, though justified, bias towards funding younger startup founders. This is the excerpt I am referring to:
"The other reason it's hard to start a company before 23 is that people won't take you seriously. VCs won't trust you, and will try to reduce you to a mascot as a condition of funding. Customers will worry you're going to flake out and leave them stranded. Even you yourself, unless you're very unusual, will feel your age to some degree; you'll find it awkward to be the boss of someone much older than you, and if you're 21, hiring only people younger rather limits your options." - How to start a Startup
"The other reason it's hard to start a company before 23 is that people won't take you seriously. VCs won't trust you, and will try to reduce you to a mascot as a condition of funding. Customers will worry you're going to flake out and leave them stranded. Even you yourself, unless you're very unusual, will feel your age to some degree; you'll find it awkward to be the boss of someone much older than you, and if you're 21, hiring only people younger rather limits your options." - How to start a Startup
I'm a current YC company founder and I'm 21. I see the points pg makes in that essay you quote but I can't say I've let them apply to me personally. I have someone working for our company at the moment who is 33, in fact I don't think I've ever worked with someone who is the same age or younger than me (my co founder is 23). I've never had a problem with it personally, in fact I probably prefer it as I can generally learn more from more older than I am.
To make that situation work I think you need to believe strongly in two things:
1) Being a good leader does not mean being the smartest/most knowledgeable person in your company. It means being able to spot the smartest people and make them work together and learn from each other. That's not as simple as it sounds
2) You MUST believe 110% that age is a completely irrelevant metric when determining the "smartness" of a person. I don't care if someone is 20 years older than I am - if they haven't done a start-up then that puts me ahead of them in respect to running a start up. They may be an infinitely better coder/designer/whatever than I am but not a better startup founder.
The second reason is why I ditched my career as an attorney to be a start up founder. I don't intend on letting my income be determined by the number of years I've been sitting behind a desk.
To make that situation work I think you need to believe strongly in two things:
1) Being a good leader does not mean being the smartest/most knowledgeable person in your company. It means being able to spot the smartest people and make them work together and learn from each other. That's not as simple as it sounds
2) You MUST believe 110% that age is a completely irrelevant metric when determining the "smartness" of a person. I don't care if someone is 20 years older than I am - if they haven't done a start-up then that puts me ahead of them in respect to running a start up. They may be an infinitely better coder/designer/whatever than I am but not a better startup founder.
The second reason is why I ditched my career as an attorney to be a start up founder. I don't intend on letting my income be determined by the number of years I've been sitting behind a desk.
You're only 21? I would have guessed 26.
From the front page:
"We care more about how smart you are than how old you are, and more about the quality of your ideas than whether you have a formal business plan."
Perhaps the question should be: How many startups have you been a part of?
"We care more about how smart you are than how old you are, and more about the quality of your ideas than whether you have a formal business plan."
Perhaps the question should be: How many startups have you been a part of?
Or perhaps "How smart are you?" would be better?
It's hard to say for sure, but I'd guess it's not off by more than a couple years.
YC founders probably differ from the average founder more in how hackerly they are than their age. We have a strong bias toward companies run by the people actually writing the software.
YC founders probably differ from the average founder more in how hackerly they are than their age. We have a strong bias toward companies run by the people actually writing the software.
Only 21 and I still feel like I should have accomplished more with my life by now.
Experience is important, passion is more important.
Experience without passion is a dead startup.
Experience is important, passion is more important.
Experience without passion is a dead startup.
Creativity is essential for startups and for some people creativity increases with age: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.07/genius.html
I'm 25 and feel like I'm just starting to get the hang of this stuff! Some friends and I tried to start a Video Game company out of college and it didn't get us very far. Once I started working a 'real job' I quickly realized how much better it was to be your own boss. I've been working SO much harder now than I ever thought about working in college or right after. Real life is a great motivator ;)
I am a month past 29 and just got my first "real job" (previously I had started 2 businesses and joined a good friend in his business). A friend I met told me about Saturn's Return (google it) which is a f*cked up period of life that happens between 27.5 and 29.5 so hopefully Im on my way out.
BTW the "real job" means the 4th person in at a digital media startup. Older and Wiser.
BTW the "real job" means the 4th person in at a digital media startup. Older and Wiser.
32. With wife, kids and new country.
I couldn't have done it any early. My collective experience over the last 10 years has really helped me focus on my startup Tinbag.com. As said above, having a supporting wife is a must. The new country part, I left England because it was just too cost probative to do a startup there.
I couldn't have done it any early. My collective experience over the last 10 years has really helped me focus on my startup Tinbag.com. As said above, having a supporting wife is a must. The new country part, I left England because it was just too cost probative to do a startup there.
I bootstrapped my first company when I was 23. The company hit a positive monthly cash flow a few months ago and looks like it will break even in 2007. The invaluable lessons that I've learned in the years since finishing college have given me a much better perspective about how the real world operates and will certainly help in future entrepreneurial ventures. Holding down my day job at a multi-million dollar software company (with less than 20 employees) has also helped me learn how to manage and how to sell.
I will be 26 next month, and I've never felt more prepared.
I will be 26 next month, and I've never felt more prepared.
Im 39 going on 20. The other two co-founders involved in this start up are 49. They are extremely intelligent and the experience they bring to the table is invaluable. I know there is something to be said about youthful exuberance but experience has to factor in somewhere.
"When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years." -- Mark Twain
I'm 24 and not interested in being an assistant for my whole life. I spent time at some major labels which sounds cool but it really wasn't. It turned out to be a pretty frustrating and disheartening experience, but I learned a lot. After some time in NYC I just decided to come back to Massachusetts and really try and get my own ideas off the ground. My partner is 25 and rotting away at a repetitive flash development job. He's damn good at flash though haha
I'm 20, will be 21 in April. Will also be applying for this summer's Y Combinator round as soon as I can get my prototype/alpha up and running for basic testing and as soon as I can find a founder. It is ridiculously hard to find a founder when you're surrounded by 9-5 types who have a family and a mortgage. I should've done this while I was in college. Hopefully I'll see some of you in Cambridge.
I'm 31; tinkered with technology from a young age, did the University thing, backpacked around the world, now married with a kid. I think the age depends on what you want your startup to give you...fulfillment, enlightenment - its not just about acquisitions or IPOs. I think a rounded view on life would help some of the very guys not to end up like software's answer to Britney Spears!?
34. And like some others, wife's support and income are absolutely essential to make this all possible.
I was watching the "secret YC video" that was posted the other day. You could see some older people and a few who looked quite young. But you really had to look for it, because what you really saw was a bunch of geeks. And I mean that in the best possible sense.
32, wife and 3 year old son. My son might be a cofounder also, depending on the YC rules.
25, and my co-founders are 23 and 32.
Relatedly: two of us have wives and families, which does make things more difficult financially and time-wise. Do any other founders have families? Do you work on the startup full-time? How do you fund yourselves?
Relatedly: two of us have wives and families, which does make things more difficult financially and time-wise. Do any other founders have families? Do you work on the startup full-time? How do you fund yourselves?
I have a family also.. Y'all will think I'm totally nuts, but I'm a polyphasic sleeper ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphasic_sleep ). Altogether I sleep about 2.5 hours a day, which means I can have a 15 hour work day (at night) and still have 6+ hours at just the right times to be with my family and do personal things etc. I have my wife's 100% support though, and that makes all the difference (I won the support by cleaning the kitchen at night, of course).
In some ways I miss the freedom of being a little younger and single- being able to drop absolutely everything and move somewhere, knowing you'll be able to take care of yourself at the very least no matter what. On the other hand, there's a certain stability in your life that comes from being married and from having children. It can really be an anchor when times are difficult. It also usually forces you to take a lot more realistic view of your potential startup. Will this really produce revenue? Am I really covering my bases? etc.
In some ways I miss the freedom of being a little younger and single- being able to drop absolutely everything and move somewhere, knowing you'll be able to take care of yourself at the very least no matter what. On the other hand, there's a certain stability in your life that comes from being married and from having children. It can really be an anchor when times are difficult. It also usually forces you to take a lot more realistic view of your potential startup. Will this really produce revenue? Am I really covering my bases? etc.
32. With wife and kids. :)
It's a strain on personal/family life, but I firmly believe that starting a startup now is the best time for me to do so. I've been in the work world long enough to realize what I don't like, what I'm sick of, and what kinds of things people in my position are looking for.
There's also something to be said for the support that a spouse can give you, and for the energy that children impart just by being around you. Yeah, I have my bad days, but all in all, I think that this is the time.
Focus is the main thing that limited resources will impart to you. My two most limited resources at the moment are time and money. Since I don't have much of each, and can't afford to fail, I am that much more focused on what I need to be doing.
It's a strain on personal/family life, but I firmly believe that starting a startup now is the best time for me to do so. I've been in the work world long enough to realize what I don't like, what I'm sick of, and what kinds of things people in my position are looking for.
There's also something to be said for the support that a spouse can give you, and for the energy that children impart just by being around you. Yeah, I have my bad days, but all in all, I think that this is the time.
Focus is the main thing that limited resources will impart to you. My two most limited resources at the moment are time and money. Since I don't have much of each, and can't afford to fail, I am that much more focused on what I need to be doing.
I don't know how it'll work out, but my wife and I are considering the idea of "wife's full time job as funding", in the sense that if she has a good job, and we can get by on her salary, then I'm free to work on some things of my own.
In some ways, I think it's nice to be married as it gives me a certain stability that I didn't have before.
Edit: BTW, I'm 31. I actually feel like it's the right time for me to try something of my own. I feel like I have a better vision of more things than I did when I was younger. I don't feel 'old' though, and we don't have kids (yet).
In some ways, I think it's nice to be married as it gives me a certain stability that I didn't have before.
Edit: BTW, I'm 31. I actually feel like it's the right time for me to try something of my own. I feel like I have a better vision of more things than I did when I was younger. I don't feel 'old' though, and we don't have kids (yet).
My co-founder and I are both 21.
I believe that competence, experience, and drive are not determined by age. I consider all aspiring entrepreneurs to be my peers and all successful entrepreneurs to be my role models.
I believe that competence, experience, and drive are not determined by age. I consider all aspiring entrepreneurs to be my peers and all successful entrepreneurs to be my role models.
I am by far, the oldest one here.
39. Perhaps I should forget about YC!
I'm 32 and my co-founder is the 33 year old mentioned by Paul. We're a YC this year. I didn't particularly feel like age would have played any role in acceptance (though I believe we have the most traditional business model and most traditional product in the bunch, and had Trevor and Robert not been interested it may have triggered a "no" from Paul). There are three PhD candidate founders who are probably much closer to 30 than 20, as well.
Anyway, I didn't notice any particular agenda for picking younger founders...younger folks are the ones that showed up (I met all, or nearly all, of the folks who got to the demo stage in Boston..including the majority that didn't get picked).
Anyway, I didn't notice any particular agenda for picking younger founders...younger folks are the ones that showed up (I met all, or nearly all, of the folks who got to the demo stage in Boston..including the majority that didn't get picked).
i'm 24, being around the YC average opposes hapily to my feelings that i am too ooold...
it's great to be among this virtual tech startup community sharing the same stress and anxieties...maybe we should make some skype conference, public chat, skypecast whatever is called...
as a matter of fact i am opening a new thread here in news.YC right after this comment to suggest this.
*update: my suggestion is in this thread:
http://news.ycombinator.com/comments?id=2336
it's great to be among this virtual tech startup community sharing the same stress and anxieties...maybe we should make some skype conference, public chat, skypecast whatever is called...
as a matter of fact i am opening a new thread here in news.YC right after this comment to suggest this.
*update: my suggestion is in this thread:
http://news.ycombinator.com/comments?id=2336
Turned 23 last month. I feel really old because I'm a 5th year in undergrad. I thought this would be really cool, but not so much so.
24th bday coming up this year. A birthday gift in the form of a no-hassle $50,000 investment will be much appreciated :)
I'll be sending in a YC application in a couple days if my cofounder decides to commit. I'm 21. He's 18.
I'm 23, my co-founder is 20. We are looking for another co-founder btw.
Another co-founder? I'd be interested if you guys want to talk.
Hey Veritas - send me an email at sumon [at] zintilla.com. Bonus: if you have mad rails skillz
Ah, 19 for another couple months:)
26 now, 19 when founded first real startup
I am by far, the oldest one here.
39.
I am 25 and feeling very old
Fifty
For what it's worth, I feel more ready and able to do a startup now than I would have been when I was younger. Just for starters I was already in my mid-20s when I got my PhD.
A good friend of mine sold his startup last year to AOL for enough money that he'll never have to work again. He was 41 at the time and I believe his co-founder was around the same age. This gives me hope that I'm not quite over the hill yet ;-)