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Ask HN: Is 26 too old to start a startup?

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Re: Ask HN: Is 26 too old to start a startup?

#11
Age is a strawman. When I started reading HN I thought, yeah, I've missed the boat by 10 years (I'm 28). But this isn't dealing with reality.

If you can change your situation or tolerate the changes creating a startup will introduce (working after hours, quitting your job, making contacts, whatever you choose), you can do it.

My story: I initially went, fine, I'm too old and I can't program so I'm out. This was a waste. When I sat down and genuinely looked at it I have basically the same profile as a graduate (single, educated, no major bad debt), but with the bonus of what the last 8 years in a corp setting has brought to me (insight, GFC, some usable assets, project management skills, etc).

Pathway after throwing out the age idea was simple - what are my skill sets? What resources do I have? What am I willing and realistically able to do? What will I enjoy? How much profit do I want from this? Will it be a fulltime job?

Now I'm into doing a volume of freelance art, and moving the completed work into merchandising and passive revenue ideas (prints, licensed work, etc). It's not the traditional "startup" type thing, but the plan is to expand it into a standalone business of some form once it builds a head of capital up.

Basically, do whatever you can stomach, and don't use age as an excuse. Building your venture / new life will probably take a few years anyhow, so will it bother you if you're 32 and still building something? 38? 45? Or would it bother you more to _wait_ until you're 45 to start?

Re: Ask HN: Is 26 too old to start a startup?

#14
I find that my first two attempts at "startups" floundered (and eventually foundered) due in large part because I was too "young" (i.e., immature). I lacked confidence in what I was doing, and I always felt like I wasn't old enough to bring in real customers.

We'll see if startup #3 does any better (having a strong cofounder has certainly helped), but I think I can already say that there's no way our early-20s selves would have gotten this far (the two of us just weren't ready for it).

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