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Yeah, you're right. But if you look at the really big companies, nearly all were started by young founders (Facebook, Google, etc.) And that's what kids (and th
by exelius 11y ago
Yeah, you're right. But if you look at the really big companies, nearly all were started by young founders (Facebook, Google, etc.) And that's what kids (and the media) focus in on.
IMO experienced founders are great for building a cash cow business worth $1 billion or so. That takes hard work and a billion dollars is a fucking lot of money, so it's nothing to scoff at. But it's not primarily what VCs are interested in: the VC model is built off of small equity stakes in $10 billion+ IPOs.
To have a $10 billion+ IPO, you need to invent a market, and young kids are great at that because they don't see the limitations the market has placed on us. Most don't have the fucking slightest about finance or money, which can be an impediment if you're trying to create a product in an existing market, but if you're building a new market or category, short-term viability matters less.
That said, there are a lot more ideas that can turn into successful $1 billion companies than ideas that can become $100 billion companies. So your odds are a lot better at starting a successful business if you learn how first.
And to your point about senior care... most VCs who don't focus on health care avoid it entirely for similar reasons they avoid dating apps. You can either go the medical device/biotech route and spend hundreds of millions on lawyers and regulatory approvals, or you can go after the provider side of things. The healthcare IT space is pretty saturated and very fragmented, so it ends up scaling like a consulting business (which VCs are also not fond of).
- eaihga 11y agoi'm curious, is your opinion based on research, or is it just fanciful extrapolations from a starting point of 'Facebook and google were started by young people'? Because frankly, most of the ideas contained in your post don't seem like they actually stand up to scrutiny. For example, your idea that "kids don't see the limitations the market has placed upon us" only makes sense if you believe: a) that young founders don't understand existing markets; and b) that old founders can't imagine a world other than the existing world; and c) a failure to understand existing markets creates an advantage; and d) a failure to understand existing markets does not create an offsetting disadvantage; and e) an understanding of existing markets does not create an advantage; and f) an understanding of existing markets only creates disadvantages. Do you have proof of any or all of these? Your arbitrarily chosen metric for success was a huge ($10b+) exit. If we do that, only ONE of the ten largest IPOs was a young kid (Zuck at FB), and even there, he wasn't reimagining a market per your thesis, he was doing something entirely new. I really, really wish HN had a way to flag 'eloquently stated bullshit', because it's dangerous when people like you open their mouths. You confidently and eloquently say shit that's just totally fucking wrong, and you make everyone dumber. It feeds your ego and it kills the world. Fucking shut your dumb mouth.
- alaskamiller 11y agoWhere are these 10 billion dollar ipos and these billion dollar businesses that investors don't want to touch? What are these magical markets invented by oh-so-spry out-of-box-thinking unburdened-by-reality type of kids?
- ansible 11y agoI think they're talking about things like WhatsApp, Instagram, and SnapChat. If you had asked me about each of them before I'd heard of them, I would have told you that they are all solved problems. That SMS, email, and the existing photo-sharing apps are "good enough". However, these companies are apparently solving people's problems (hence the large userbase for each), even if I personally don't use them and don't quite understand the value proposition that each provides.
- umeshunni 11y agoExcept that WhatsApp was started by a 30something experienced founder pair.
- rcarrigan87 11y agoAll good points. For the record, I was more talking about any product or service aimed at the 65+ crowd (not necessarily healthcare specific). It's a very underserved group of individuals who also happen to have all the money!