Depends on what you mean by “startup”. If you want to found a money-burning VC-backed play for world domination, that’s probably not something you can do while

Depends on what you mean by “startup”. If you want to found a money-burning VC-backed play for world domination, that’s probably not something you can do while you raise your kids and pay your mortgage. However, if you’re interested in starting a business, providing a valuable product or service that people need and will pay for, you can absolutely do that. The real answer I think you’re looking for is that you need to put a lot of money in savings, starting now, and you need to be aiming for actual paying customers on day one, not on convincing someone to give you a billion dollars to screw around until you find product market fit.