41–50 of 121 posts
The nice thing about this article is it blows some ageist assumptions out of the water. I wasn’t expecting the average founders age to be over 40 in SV.
This paper explores the idea in the UK over time, but I've seen studies out there that examine the idea comparing the UK to other European countries where home ownership is less of an embedded norm: https://conference.iza.org/conference_files/ESSLE_2012/brack...
Anyhow, very interesting to think that there are human traits at play as in the original article as well as structural/socio-economic factors.
The nice thing about this article is it blows some ageist assumptions out of the water. I wasn’t expecting the average founders age to be over 40 in SV.
Which just goes to show that all the studies in the world don't mean a whole lot :) I guess it depends on your definition of "entrepreneur" - does it count if you only found 1 company? But from where I stand I pretty much fail all the "high probability" criteria, no troubled past, no mental health issues, no previous employment history, no bad-childhood, and do on. Arguably I'm "well rounded" (for some definition of…
Age can be a key factor too. I asked a VC once what were the key things they looked at. They came out with the expected answers, passion, vision , plan of execution and then said age. I expected they meant a someone in their early twenties to be then be told 'nope', if some middle aged industry vets walk in they immediately sit up in their chairs a little more.
The second more subtle point is that someone older is likely to be settled (job/family/money) and switching to a startup requires more intrinsic motivation to do it for the "right reasons". If you have two kids and a somewhat set job at a FAANG or big corp or whatever there must be something really bothering you to give that up. So ceteris paribus I'd assume the older person is far less likely to come in there because they want to "work on something cool", "yolo-startup can still rebuild later swing for the fences" or "this is the path to all the moneyz" and more likely to come there because they see the value of solving the problem they have identified and assume all else will sort of follow.
If you study 10 entrepreneurs you will find 11 different paths they took in their journey. While this is a good read, the advice to everyone looking for the "secret sauce" to starting a successful venture remains the same – there is none. You can try to emulate Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg or whoever else all you want. The moment you idea meets the real world you will be in completely unfamiliar territory with no op…
The secret sauce is "Make something people want" (YC's motto)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
In my experience, most successful entrepreneurs are usually quite good at accurately assessing risks. They are simply more capable and willing to embrace certain risks in pursuit of greater rewards in the future.
Agreed. I think the dominant entrepreneurial trait isn’t risk taking, it’s optimism.
But the dominant trait at least for serial entrepreneurs might still be pessimism at the core, because it requires willingness to fail. You need to be pessimistic enough to expect to fail many times as a normal course of action until you luck out. If you don't expect to fail then the first large failure becomes the final blow.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
In my experience, most successful entrepreneurs are usually quite good at accurately assessing risks. They are simply more capable and willing to embrace certain risks in pursuit of greater rewards in the future.
Agreed. I think the dominant entrepreneurial trait isn’t risk taking, it’s optimism.
It’s an interesting article. In my view, Non-conformists start companies. Possibly aggressive non-conformists most of all. In my personal case, I made many questionable choices, including turning down a job at Microsoft in the nineties (would have been better financially) and leaving multiple great jobs (one of which afforded me corporate apartments in Honolulu and London) to risk everything multiple times to start m…
Not especially non-conformists - non-conformity is merely a symptom. As you say, risk seeking behavior, resulting from the actual cause: "poor risk assessment" - ties right in to difficult childhood, mental health issues, and the market misjudging you (all causes or signs of trauma and being outside the norm). I say this as someone with an appetite for trying new things, being non-conformist, and adventure sports - c…
You project value judgement into places where there need not be any. Most of these people who are doing "entrepreneurial things" come out somewhat ahead over their careers. It's not like they're dying destitute. Do they (in aggregate) come out as far ahead in terms of dollars as someone who grinds leet code and job hops between BigcCo? Probably not. But that's not what they're optimizing for.
> ties right in to difficult childhood, mental health issues, and the market misjudging you (all causes or signs of trauma and being outside the norm).
Ah, yes, the ol' anyone who doesn't agree with you must have something "wrong with them" or "be damaged" line of reasoning.
>I say this as someone with an appetite for trying new things, being non-conformist, and adventure sports -
Having a hobby that might put you in a cast isn't the kind of risk being discussed here. It's misleading (to be charitable) to portray that kind of risk exposure as analogous to doing things that will have large impact on your earning potential in the short, medium and long term.
>People with excellent and accurate risk estimation and assessment work as actuaries, or accountants, certain kinds of insurance brokers, something nice and safe where you can do good work for 35 years and retire. The quintessential "brown volvo" driver.
You are conflating loss avoidance with risk assessment.
And I say this as someone who is living the exact career you are trying to stereotype in a positive light.
Working on my second startup. I have clinical depression, ADHD and OCD. The depression is an endless battle through a muddy swamp. I have to endlessly game it with exercise, sleep, supplements. I would give anything to not be held back by that. I somewhat envy the manic benefits of Bipolar! That sounds so much better than just regular depression! /h But my ADHD is high functioning. My mind constantly jumps from topic…
A curious sample. Unfortunately these types of "studies" omit the bulk of entrepreneurs that keep an economy running. Small businesses, 5-50 employees, that tick on without the glory and fame that outliers capture are more interesting and more likely to be achieved. Would be curious to see more studies about the types of entrepreneurs that build them.