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Ask HN: Where to find founders in their early 20s?

9 points by saas_man 2y ago

I'm 20. Last year I launched a fairly successful SAAS startup. I recently dropped out to work on it full time and moved to NYC. I have friends here but they're all in college and I'd really like to meet people who went down the same path as me in life. How can I meet other people like me?

smarm52 2y ago
Probably any wealthy peoples kids would fit that bill.
- saas_man 2y ago
  Seems to me like most wealthy parents don't want their kids to drop out of college lol
  - smarm52 2y ago
    That's interesting actually. Wealthy parents mean that their kids are more likely to be able to do risky things like doing startups, and their connections allow the kids to get funding that is otherwise unavailable. And so there's a real temptation for the kids to do something risky, as they know they can get bailed out if they fail too hard. So the question then: How to keep them in school? A degree provides its own sort of security, which any parent would want for their kids. A naive way would be to just cut off the kids if they fail at some risky scheme to make money; But I doubt many people would be able to do that, it's just too cruel. Then, incentives don't work very well, as the kids already come from money, and there's few other incentives to offer, since money simultaneously provides security and makes life generally easier. Punishment also comes to mind, but again the problem with the parents enforcing that sort of thing. I'm honestly stumped. Then, if it's hard(er) to keep kids of wealthy people in school, does that mean that that process results in a generation of people that have inherited wealth and that are poorly educated? Does wealth naturally lead to people that have trouble with advanced topics and concepts, because their education is lacking? That paints a pretty grim picture of the future, since wealth controls so much of many people's lives, and having the poorly educated as part of the de-facto ruling class is generally bad for everyone involved (even them).
    - saas_man 2y ago
      Having rich parents definitely makes dropping out a safer bet but I think the parents would still be opposed to it because they went to college and so did all of their rich friends. > Then, if it's hard(er) to keep kids of wealthy people in school, does that mean that that process results in a generation of people that have inherited wealth and that are poorly educated? Students with poor parents are still several times more likely to drop out (https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/pdf/Indicator_COJ/coe_coj_2015_05.pdf https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/pdf/Indicator_COJ/coe_coj_2...). I'm sure very very few dropouts did it to chase an opportunity (I haven't met anyone who did what I did). They did it because they couldn't handle the schoolwork or couldn't afford college anymore.
    - hiAndrewQuinn 2y ago
      Who on Earth told you there's an epidemic of rich kids dropping out of school in the first place? OP notwithstanding, congrats saas_man. But yeah, most rich people would stick it out to get the bachelor's unless their startup was doing really well.
rd 2y ago
College
- saas_man 2y ago
  I meant more like people who dropped out for their startups
  - cpach 2y ago
    If you find people in the last year of college, perhaps at least some of them will go on to launch a startup…?
    - saas_man 2y ago
      Hoping for that. I mostly hang around NYU kids and everything there is very internship-based. Maybe I should've met more people at Stanford haha
      - cpach 2y ago
        Out of curiosity, have you considered relocating to SFBA?
        saas_man 2y ago
        I considered it but for my business there are more opportunities in NYC especially since I'm not looking for VC funding. NYC is way more fun than the bay anyways. SF is alright but everywhere else is so boring, suburban, and overpriced.
        cpach 2y ago
        Makes sense. Slightly envious that you get to live in NYC, seems like a very nice city!
mrbirddev 2y ago
This is what I do when I was an undergrad. I used alumni startup products and went their meetups so I got to know the founders in person.
whateverevetahw 2y ago
Discord
- saas_man 2y ago
  You know any servers?
hiAndrewQuinn 2y ago
You're on a rare vector, no doubt about it. It'll be tough. You can try milling about various startup accelerators, I guess. You might find a few who did what you did, and they tend to have a younger crowd.
- saas_man 2y ago
  Not a bad idea. I'm bootstrapped so that makes it a little harder considering those places are mostly interested in equity but a couple introductions wouldn't hurt
cpach 2y ago
In NYC, there ought to be at least one meetup group for startup founders?! I would have a look on https://www.meetup.com/ https://www.meetup.com/ BTW, did you consider applying to YC? You don’t have to move permanently to SF to join.
codegeek 2y ago
"How can I meet other people like me?" Do you really want to restrict yourself to meeting people in their 20s ? If you expand your horizon a bit, plenty of exciting founders in their 30s,40s or even 50s .
- saas_man 2y ago
  No not at all and I like meeting all kinds of founders, usually much older ones. I'm just saying it would be nice to meet people who are in the same stage in life as me
  - codegeek 2y ago
    Great. I am an almost 42 year old bootstrapped founder and always happy to meet like minded people. I am not quite in NYC but in Southern New Jersey (almost philly). So I can get to NYC in 1.5-2 hours (give or take traffic situation). Happy to connect. Details in profile.
zarathustra333 2y ago
NYC based and would love to connect! https://ellispinsky.com/ https://ellispinsky.com/
- saas_man 2y ago
  Good to connect
noashavit 2y ago
Meetups, happy hours around conferences and events, and lean our your VC contacts they should have their own events/dinners, and can intro you to like minded founders regardless
flessner 2y ago
Hi, I am 21. First I didn't want to comment as I am not a founder (yet), but I actually had an idea: My university actually runs a rudimentary founders program/startup accelerator for students. Maybe the institutions near you do the same, I am sure your input would be invaluable there and also the (future) founders would be right in your age range.