Ask HN: Is it too late to do a startup after 35?

The biggest advantages early-twenty-somethings have over later age groups is a higher risk tolerance and a lack of obligations getting in the way of putting in unlimited time at the office.

The latter is a little dubious, since the data shows that productivity tends to fall after about 40 hours of work a week and to drop off a cliff after 50. Sometimes you gotta crunch, but if you're crunching all the time something is wrong. I consider that a sign of poor planning or "work hygiene."

The former does matter, but it can be overcome by compensating with better planning and by leveraging superior experience. You can compensate for lower risk tolerance by working to de-risk the venture as early as possible as much as you can.

Having done half a dozen plus startups, I've had to deal with low pay once, and that was a startup I did at 19, four of us co-founded an ISP and got about $50k funding from a guy almost as clueless as we were. Since then I've been able to demand, and get, market rate salaries on top of options or outright shares past initial periods of working on the project evenings etc. The startups I've been part of have in fact been more stable when it comes to paying on time.

There are cases where taking salary cuts are ok and justified to make a startup work, but there better be a lot of equity in there.

As for being able to reduce burn, I spend about 50% of my after tax income normally. Less at the moment due to some consulting. This is with a child and a mortgage. While i's true I spend more than I did at 20 (I'm 39 now), inflation adjusted the difference is small, and my income also allows me to build up a buffer which means I'm far better able to deal with loss of income today than I was then. It also means that I can live off 4-5 days of consulting a month in a crisis.

While I'm sure you're right for a lot of people, there are plenty of us for whom our 30's or 40's have brought a huge increase in financial flexibility.

Only the young get benefit from this equation. I would bet that your achievements would not be considered great by someone who uses this equation, no matter how great they are.

The somewhat misquoted phrase that's attributed to the Alibaba CEO describes the spirit of people who use this type of thinking better than my equation will:

"If you're not rich at 35, you deserve it!"

Assuming you don't squander your early years starting older has some advantages. When you're older you've likely built some domain expertise, have a better idea of what you want from life, and can support yourself better.

For example, I started in my late 20's. By that time I'd saved a lot of money, built steady passive income, was married (wife's career keeps her busy), and didn't have any kids. Since most other areas of my life were taken care (especially financial) of I could pour myself into my startup without worrying about raising money or runway.

That said, remember that wanting to feel "the excitement of a start-up" is the wrong reason to join or start one. Before quitting your job I'd highly recommend just starting a side project and do it for at least 6 months before making any major decisions. It's very unglamorous and odds are you won't even launch a product, which is fine. Better to learn that now than after you quit your job because 35 isn't too old to start a startup but it is too old to be unemployed.