Despite the social media and self-promotion hype, successful startup founders don't necessarily match the 20-something crushing it on the latest disruption. In

Despite the social media and self-promotion hype, successful startup founders don't necessarily match the 20-something crushing it on the latest disruption. In the US, the average age of a successful startup founder is 45[1]. That implies founders with considerable experience in both technical and business domains. They have done a lot of trial and error already, and have better instincts around risk and reward and setting priorities. Someone with little or no experience who wants to call themselves founder of something, but doesn't really know what or how, may have the drive and energy but a lot of that will get dissipated as heat and avoidable mistakes. Also consider survivorship bias when you read startup stories. We don't hear much from the people who tried and failed, but every Ivy League dropout who gets lucky with their startup gets turned into an icon (or a guest of the penal system). A successful founder, like a successful person in most scenarios, knows how to recognize a critical decision, has a sense of the knowns and unknowns, can leverage the strengths of their team, avoids wasting time on inconsequential matters, and has a plan to cut losses and try something else before they fall too deep into a hole. Most of that comes from experience. I don't think you can create or "access" any of that, you learn it and fill the gaps with people who have complementary skills and experience. [1] https://hbr.org/2018/07/research-the-average-age-of-a-successful-startup-founder-is-45 https://hbr.org/2018/07/research-the-average-age-of-a-succes...