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I suspect people in their 40s will have far more potential sources of cash for funding a startup (personal savings, personal connections, wealthy friends), so p

I suspect people in their 40s will have far more potential sources of cash for funding a startup (personal savings, personal connections, wealthy friends), so probably wouldn't consider ycombinator a very good use of their time. So the ages of successful ycombinator applicants might not be the best metric to use in this case.

puranjay 11y ago
But wouldn't they also have more responsibilities? There is a thin balance I suppose. There is a perfect age when you don't have the responsibilities of family and kids, and still have a decade's worth of industry experience to bank on. If you are an engineer, you likely graduated at 22. By the time you hit 29, you've had 7 years of real world engineering experience. Good enough to start your own company, in my opinion.
- 7Figures2Commas 11y ago
  > But wouldn't they also have more responsibilities? From https://hbr.org/2013/06/entrepreneurs-get-better-with/ https://hbr.org/2013/06/entrepreneurs-get-better-with/: “The average age of a successful entrepreneur in high-growth industries such as computers, health care, and aerospace is 40. Twice as many successful entrepreneurs are over 50 as under 25. The vast majority — 75 percent — have more than six years of industry experience and half have more than 10 years when they create their startup,” says Duke University scholar Vivek Wadhwa, who studied 549 successful technology ventures. Meanwhile, data from the Kauffman Foundation indicates the highest rate of entrepreneurship in America has shifted to the 55-64 age group, with people over 55 almost twice as likely to found successful companies than those between 20 and 34. The narrative of "it's hard to start a company when you have a family and a mortgage" might seem intuitive, but the data around entrepreneurship and small business ownership in this country shows that most people don't start successful businesses when they're young, single and have limited responsibilities. > If you are an engineer, you likely graduated at 22. By the time you hit 29, you've had 7 years of real world engineering experience. > Good enough to start your own company, in my opinion. I don't want to discount the value of engineering experience, but this is hardly all that's required for success. One should not mistake Silicon Valley investors tripping over themselves to provide seed funding to engineers with the creation of successful businesses. A lot of the startups today aren't going anywhere, and you just don't hear a lot about the failures because employees typically aren't out of work for long when the money runs out.
  - puranjay 11y ago
    Looking at some of the successful 40+ entrepreneurs, it strikes me that the 40 year old entrepreneur in a high growth industry has a very different profile than a 40 year old entrepreneur in a more "traditional" industry like food & beverages, retail, etc. The former is usually composed of highly educated execs with business experience and a technical background. They jump in after identifying a core problem in their industry and usually have the technical chops + connections to solve it.
- unoti 11y ago
  > but wouldn't they also have more responsibilities? Not necessarily. In my case I had far more financial independence at 40, no debt, and all the kids were out of the house for the first time in my life. Car fully paid off. In my 20s, I wasn't in the position to start a business because I had mouths to feed, at least not without external capital sources.
- rayiner 11y ago
  > But wouldn't they also have more responsibilities? Yes, but they often have more support too. At 31, I've got a wife who can support the household, money in the bank to pay for capital expenditures, the ability to get a business line of credit, etc. If I quit my job to start a company, I wouldn't be staring down the end of a fixed runway. At 23, I would've been burning a fixed amount of cash needing to make things work before it ran out.
- entee 11y ago
  Not necessarily. It's entirely possible to be a great engineer and a terrible CEO/Founder/Mentor. It's obviously not always true, but I think there's a benefit to age and wisdom. It's easy(ish) to find someone with entrepreneurial drive and technical skill. Far more important is the wisdom to know when to listen and when not to listen (and corollaries about hiring good people and managing). Those are critical for long term success and difficult to learn. It's sad that there's a cult of youth in the valley because a lot of these skills develop over time.

puranjay 11y ago

But wouldn't they also have more responsibilities? There is a thin balance I suppose. There is a perfect age when you don't have the responsibilities of family and kids, and still have a decade's worth of industry experience to bank on. If you are an engineer, you likely graduated at 22. By the time you hit 29, you've had 7 years of real world engineering experience. Good enough to start your own company, in my opinion.

7Figures2Commas 11y ago
> But wouldn't they also have more responsibilities? From https://hbr.org/2013/06/entrepreneurs-get-better-with/ https://hbr.org/2013/06/entrepreneurs-get-better-with/: “The average age of a successful entrepreneur in high-growth industries such as computers, health care, and aerospace is 40. Twice as many successful entrepreneurs are over 50 as under 25. The vast majority — 75 percent — have more than six years of industry experience and half have more than 10 years when they create their startup,” says Duke University scholar Vivek Wadhwa, who studied 549 successful technology ventures. Meanwhile, data from the Kauffman Foundation indicates the highest rate of entrepreneurship in America has shifted to the 55-64 age group, with people over 55 almost twice as likely to found successful companies than those between 20 and 34. The narrative of "it's hard to start a company when you have a family and a mortgage" might seem intuitive, but the data around entrepreneurship and small business ownership in this country shows that most people don't start successful businesses when they're young, single and have limited responsibilities. > If you are an engineer, you likely graduated at 22. By the time you hit 29, you've had 7 years of real world engineering experience. > Good enough to start your own company, in my opinion. I don't want to discount the value of engineering experience, but this is hardly all that's required for success. One should not mistake Silicon Valley investors tripping over themselves to provide seed funding to engineers with the creation of successful businesses. A lot of the startups today aren't going anywhere, and you just don't hear a lot about the failures because employees typically aren't out of work for long when the money runs out.
- puranjay 11y ago
  Looking at some of the successful 40+ entrepreneurs, it strikes me that the 40 year old entrepreneur in a high growth industry has a very different profile than a 40 year old entrepreneur in a more "traditional" industry like food & beverages, retail, etc. The former is usually composed of highly educated execs with business experience and a technical background. They jump in after identifying a core problem in their industry and usually have the technical chops + connections to solve it.
unoti 11y ago
> but wouldn't they also have more responsibilities? Not necessarily. In my case I had far more financial independence at 40, no debt, and all the kids were out of the house for the first time in my life. Car fully paid off. In my 20s, I wasn't in the position to start a business because I had mouths to feed, at least not without external capital sources.
rayiner 11y ago
> But wouldn't they also have more responsibilities? Yes, but they often have more support too. At 31, I've got a wife who can support the household, money in the bank to pay for capital expenditures, the ability to get a business line of credit, etc. If I quit my job to start a company, I wouldn't be staring down the end of a fixed runway. At 23, I would've been burning a fixed amount of cash needing to make things work before it ran out.
entee 11y ago
Not necessarily. It's entirely possible to be a great engineer and a terrible CEO/Founder/Mentor. It's obviously not always true, but I think there's a benefit to age and wisdom. It's easy(ish) to find someone with entrepreneurial drive and technical skill. Far more important is the wisdom to know when to listen and when not to listen (and corollaries about hiring good people and managing). Those are critical for long term success and difficult to learn. It's sad that there's a cult of youth in the valley because a lot of these skills develop over time.