5 ms·
Ask HN: How young is too young to start a startup?
I'm a 17y working on what is a side project that a lot of people think could become something, I've even had a couple of people offer to invest, to which I have politely declined. I'm not about to take people's money if i'm still iffy about it. Now I know from a legal point of view, the number would be 18y.
But really how young is too young?
I'd really like of answers, so any and all answers are appreciated.
- RaitoBezarius 11y agoI think that first, you should always consider an escape route, no matter what you are doing. First of all, I do not believe a lot in the "startup game", so my advice is to read some books before doing something: Rework is a good start. It forge you an opinion on how to run a tech company, productivity stuff, scaling, ... Next, I suppose that you are a high school student, so you're going to have your bachelor this year. I have to say: Do not favor your company / projects more than your studies. These are your escape route, and an escape route should be fail-proof as much as you can. Get as much degree as you can, while you can try to make your side-projects and ideas better, to adjust them, to test them. The whole idea is to invest the minimal time in your idea while building your escape route. Now, why what I say makes sense? I guess that you have certainly a tremendous potential, you must be a self-taught developer who started since 10 ~ 12 years old to play with a computer. So, in fact, I went through that too, and I wanted to launch my startup ASAP, to throw everything. But some people around me helped me a lot to understand that if it fails, you're completely fucked. And my guess is that for a 17y founder it is a lot worse than a 27y founder. Keep doing what you love, it is hard to wait, I definitely feel the urge to go ahead and do something that you hope will matter. But, just wait, and keep refining, it will definitely give birth to a better product, better ideas and others things. I just wanted to share my view, as I hope to understand what you see. If you want to talk more about my experience, drop me a line at masterancpp at gmail dot com I would love to learn more about your experience, what you want to do, what you have done, and where you want to go with all of that.
- nexionic 11y agoWell said, thanks for the advice. I'll be sure to reach out.
- blisterpeanuts 11y agoMany great entrepreneurs got their start running some kind of business while still in high school. I would say, go for it. Even if your startup fails, and just bear in mind that most do, you'll learn invaluable skills to make your next startup a success. Good luck, and have fun!
- nexionic 11y agoVery well said. Thank you.
- brudgers 11y agoIn the "Silicon Valley sense", a startup is a company organized to grow quickly. Ideally it will have a capital structure (typically a C-corp) that facilitates substantial capital investment and a well proven mechanism for capturing value in those rare cases where it occurs. Most new businesses are not startups in this sense. That's a good thing because few startups in the Silicon Valley sense succeed. "Startup founder" is not a synonym for "entrepreneur". There's really no age at which a person should wait to become entrepreneurial. Running a startup in the Silicon Valley sense, as you note, is effectively bounded by the minimum legal age of majority. Practically speaking everyone matures at different rates. There are fifteen year old children who are more mature than fifty year old adults. My advice: trust your gut. Remember that taking investment is not business success. It obligates the founders to work to make money for someone else who is not working to make them money. Good luck.
- nexionic 11y agoThanks for the advice.