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Ask PG: YC Founders over 30 yrs old

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Ask PG: YC Founders over 30 yrs old

#11

Post by TriinT »

If you look at many tech startups, you will notice that the age of the founders is closely related to the nature of their business. For instance, YC startups do mostly web software, so the founders should be young because the barriers of entry aren't that high. After all, a smart kid who spends his teens coding in his spare time will be at his best by the age of 20.

On the other hand, I know startups which were founded by guys in their 30s and 40s. Their business areas were chip-design and laser tech for optical networks. The barrier of entry in these fields is huge.

To cut a long story short, if you're 35 you may be old by web-app industry standards, but you're still young by semiconductor industry standards. Since you're on HN I suppose you're into software, not hardware, so what I have just written will most likely be irrelevant to you.

Re: Ask PG: YC Founders over 30 yrs old

#12

Post by pg »

sanj wrote: post #9
pg wrote: post #4

There are quite a lot of founders over 30. I don't know exactly how many because we don't keep track of ages. The sharp falloff is around 35, but we've had a handful of founders over 40. None over 50 though. I think our age distribution is probably close to the age distribution for startups generally. We've funded more founders who are 27 than 20 or 35 because more people start startups at 27 than at 20 or 35.

I seem to recall at the YC meetup in Cambridge last summer ( http://anyvite.com/events/home/tmokjxuwai/ ) that there was a question asking why the application asked for age. I recall that you said "... age is a high bit in characterizing someone." And Jessica yelled from the cheap seats that "... we need it to know that you can sign stuff legally." I remember it vividly because it confirmed my decision not to apply t…

It sounds like you were reading a lot into what we said. Jessica's remark was obviously a joke. And all I meant was that when you're trying to judge someone's achievements, you need to know how long they've had to achieve them. Would you hold a 20 year old to the same standard as a 30 year old?

Re: Ask PG: YC Founders over 30 yrs old

#13

Post by jfischer »

benatkin wrote: post #8

This article has some good insight into people who succeed later in life (late bloomers): http://www.gladwell.com/2008/2008_10_20_a_latebloomers.html It does happen, and it's not as rare as most people think. The article also makes a pretty strong argument that late bloomers tend to approach things differently than those who get an early start.

Thanks -- I really enjoyed that article. I could relate to the line "I felt like I'd stepped off a cliff and I didn't know if the parachute was going to open. Nobody wants to waste their life..." The discussion about the importance of a support network for "experimental innovators" is spot-on, too.

Re: Ask PG: YC Founders over 30 yrs old

#14

Post by dusklight »

sanj wrote: post #9
pg wrote: post #4

There are quite a lot of founders over 30. I don't know exactly how many because we don't keep track of ages. The sharp falloff is around 35, but we've had a handful of founders over 40. None over 50 though. I think our age distribution is probably close to the age distribution for startups generally. We've funded more founders who are 27 than 20 or 35 because more people start startups at 27 than at 20 or 35.

I seem to recall at the YC meetup in Cambridge last summer ( http://anyvite.com/events/home/tmokjxuwai/ ) that there was a question asking why the application asked for age. I recall that you said "... age is a high bit in characterizing someone." And Jessica yelled from the cheap seats that "... we need it to know that you can sign stuff legally." I remember it vividly because it confirmed my decision not to apply t…

can you explain why this made you decide not to apply to YC?

we can make inferences from your remarks, but it would only be fair to you if you explained in your own words.

Re: Ask PG: YC Founders over 30 yrs old

#15

Post by SamAtt »

pg wrote: post #12
sanj wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I seem to recall at the YC meetup in Cambridge last summer ( http://anyvite.com/events/home/tmokjxuwai/ ) that there was a question asking why the application asked for age. I recall that you said "... age is a high bit in characterizing someone." And Jessica yelled from the cheap seats that "... we need it to know that you can sign stuff legally." I remember it vividly because it confirmed my decision not to apply t…

It sounds like you were reading a lot into what we said. Jessica's remark was obviously a joke. And all I meant was that when you're trying to judge someone's achievements, you need to know how long they've had to achieve them. Would you hold a 20 year old to the same standard as a 30 year old?

I'd think there would be more of a drop off with opportunities like Y Combinator than there would be with other Angel investors. I'm surprised there are any at all.

I guess it's still an excellent opportunity to meet people so I mean no offense to those over 30 who did sign up but I'm a 25 year old and I wouldn't pick up and move for $5,000 bucks. I always thought part of the lure of Y Combinator was that young folks had nothing to tie them down. I can't think of a 30 year old I know who has no obligations.

Re: Ask PG: YC Founders over 30 yrs old

#16

Post by newsio »

This thread (and the link to the Gladwell essay that someone submitted to it earlier) are interesting. I'm 39 years old, and want to start my own company and change my career from journalist to news technologist/entrepreneur. Some readers might chuckle at that, but I am very serious.

In my mind, the question of the age of YC founders has much to do with the threshold for risk. Age definitely plays a part. But age does not crush vision, and brings some benefits in terms of experience and understanding of target markets. In my own case, I have an idea for a mobile news platform that I believe will change the way in which a lot of people get information. I think it would be a product that people want, but the only way to find out is to build it and see what the market thinks.

But I recognize that there are a lot of barriers to achieving my vision.

First, I'm not a hacker, and I don't have a co-founder (yet) who is. I think in pg's view, this would preclude me from starting this type of company (based on some of his commentary in Founders At Work and in http://paulgraham.com/startupmistakes.html). Nevertheless, I have a lot of experience with the technologies that would drive the platform, and insights into the way people consume information, and I think this will be extremely valuable in driving product development.

Second, I have a family and a mortgage. Others have noted family-related issues, but the situation really depends on the specifics of your family. My wife is not working, as my youngest is in preschool only for three mornings a week. This makes it impossible for me to take the risk right now to drop my day job and the health insurance that comes with it (I live in the U.S., in the Boston area) and work full time on my product. If my wife was working in a professional position, not only would we have the salary and insurance to fall back on if I stopped working at my day job, but also we could afford day care.

So, what I am doing right now is plugging away at the business plan and some of the technical concepts in my spare time, usually for two hours per day after the kids go to sleep. I'm trying to bone up on my understanding of the platforms that I think I will need to grok in order to get this thing off the ground. I've stopped putting money in my 401k to build up some funds, and I'm considering how I might tap other sources of funding -- not to mention considering various revenue streams from the product itself.

Would I ever apply to Y Combinator? I couldn't do it on my own, but I might, if I had the right team and could consider taking off for a few months (I wish YC still had the summer program in Cambridge!). The family-related concerns are real, but there are ways to address them (for instance, COBRA for health insurance and enough funding to cover my mortgage and living expenses).

Edited: Changed first sentence to add Gladwell ref

Re: Ask PG: YC Founders over 30 yrs old

#18

Post by dannyr »

I'm a little surprised that there are a lot of 30+ founders.

The thing is we mostly read about young people getting into YC.

I have also been to a number of gatherings with the YC founders and most of them are young.

Re: Ask PG: YC Founders over 30 yrs old

#19

Post by DocSavage »

pg wrote: post #12
sanj wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I seem to recall at the YC meetup in Cambridge last summer ( http://anyvite.com/events/home/tmokjxuwai/ ) that there was a question asking why the application asked for age. I recall that you said "... age is a high bit in characterizing someone." And Jessica yelled from the cheap seats that "... we need it to know that you can sign stuff legally." I remember it vividly because it confirmed my decision not to apply t…

It sounds like you were reading a lot into what we said. Jessica's remark was obviously a joke. And all I meant was that when you're trying to judge someone's achievements, you need to know how long they've had to achieve them. Would you hold a 20 year old to the same standard as a 30 year old?

I think age normalization is very tough, made even more difficult if you have a limited window into the 30 year olds you were judging (e.g., field changes, new start-up religion). Since you're betting on the entrepreneurial equivalent of race horses, though, you might be right. In other industries, like book publishing, one would like to see similar standards across age so a Frank McCourt gets though. The thing getting judged, though, is an already existing body of work and not the promise of future work.

Re: Ask PG: YC Founders over 30 yrs old

#20

Post by illumen »

pg wrote: post #12
sanj wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I seem to recall at the YC meetup in Cambridge last summer ( http://anyvite.com/events/home/tmokjxuwai/ ) that there was a question asking why the application asked for age. I recall that you said "... age is a high bit in characterizing someone." And Jessica yelled from the cheap seats that "... we need it to know that you can sign stuff legally." I remember it vividly because it confirmed my decision not to apply t…

It sounds like you were reading a lot into what we said. Jessica's remark was obviously a joke. And all I meant was that when you're trying to judge someone's achievements, you need to know how long they've had to achieve them. Would you hold a 20 year old to the same standard as a 30 year old?

It get's me thinking back to university, where there were a number of mature age students, most of whom were putting in much more than students on average. These people were obviously passionate, and had experiences in other industries.

Not sure who to believe here. Also not sure if it's illegal where pg is to discriminate based on age.

However it does seem that there's been a lot said about how people right out of college are the yc targets.

Might be good to explicitly state the position on age, to clear everything up. That way old hands know if it's worth applying or not.

Sounds like there a number of older people though, so I'm sure it's all good :)

Yes, you are supposed to hold a 20 year old to the same standard as a 30 year old - otherwise it's discrimination.

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