Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Startup founders, how old are you?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

1–10 of 56 posts

Re: Startup founders, how old are you?

#5

Post by python_kiss »

pg wrote: post #4

The average YC founder is about 25. The range so far has been from 19 to (I think) 33.

Paul, is the YC demographic a good representative of the average startup founder's age? Judging from your articles, I sense that there is a certain, though justified, bias towards funding younger startup founders. This is the excerpt I am referring to:

"The other reason it's hard to start a company before 23 is that people won't take you seriously. VCs won't trust you, and will try to reduce you to a mascot as a condition of funding. Customers will worry you're going to flake out and leave them stranded. Even you yourself, unless you're very unusual, will feel your age to some degree; you'll find it awkward to be the boss of someone much older than you, and if you're 21, hiring only people younger rather limits your options." - How to start a Startup

Re: Startup founders, how old are you?

#6

Post by nostrademons »

python_kiss wrote: post #2

In my opinion, startup founders hit mid life crisis in their early 20s. Considering Paul's influence on YCombinator, I am guessing that is the age group most of us belong to. So go ahead and share with us your age. I just turned 22 today :)

"In my opinion, startup founders hit mid life crisis in their early 20s."

I'd agree with that. I'm 25 and sometimes wonder if I'm over the hill.

Then again, my boss in my day job (sole founder and CEO) is almost 50. So it's not *impossible* to start late. I have noticed that it makes things difficult, culture-wise. The startup I'm at has a very 9-5 culture and tends to move fairly slowly, which is frustrating for young, ambitious hires like myself. It does have customers and manages to turn a profit, but I worry that we're falling behind the technology curve and may find ourselves without customers if a major market shake-out occurs or a competitor invades.

Re: Startup founders, how old are you?

#7

Post by Alex3917 »

python_kiss wrote: post #2

In my opinion, startup founders hit mid life crisis in their early 20s. Considering Paul's influence on YCombinator, I am guessing that is the age group most of us belong to. So go ahead and share with us your age. I just turned 22 today :)

Happy Birthday!

Hopefully by your 23rd you'll be getting ready to retire :-)

Re: Startup founders, how old are you?

#9

Post by abstractbill »

31.

For what it's worth, I feel more ready and able to do a startup now than I would have been when I was younger. Just for starters I was already in my mid-20s when I got my PhD.

A good friend of mine sold his startup last year to AOL for enough money that he'll never have to work again. He was 41 at the time and I believe his co-founder was around the same age. This gives me hope that I'm not quite over the hill yet ;-)

Post reply on HN