The research tends to back this up. The valley tends to be quite youth-obsessed but in reality successful founders of companies tend to be a little older than 2

The research tends to back this up. The valley tends to be quite youth-obsessed but in reality successful founders of companies tend to be a little older than 25: http://www.kauffman.org/what-we-do/research/2010/05/the-anatomy-of-an-entrepreneur http://www.kauffman.org/what-we-do/research/2010/05/the-anat... Other things that older people have more experience with: Management. You will have seen plenty of bad management, and hopefully a little good management along the way. Management is hard, understanding that different people work differently and how to motivate them is also hard. Having (hopefully) learned how to do it on someone else's dime is pretty damned valuable I'd say. Also against conventional wisdom: families. Plenty of these guys are married and have kids. That teaches you about compromise, talking to humans that don't see the world the way you do and can make your life miserable or awesome. I know that my PhD advisor became a notably better manager after having his first child.