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What was the age of the oldest person admitted to Y Combinator?

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: What was the age of the oldest person admitted to Y Combinator?

#21

Post by 1attice »

You should do it anyway. Not because it's easy -- it won't be -- but because it will inspire other people after you to try. People who are facing their own barriers -- sometimes the same barrier you're facing, but sometimes ones that you never even imagined.

HN loves to crap on DEI efforts, but, point-in-fact, not going with the flow (when the flow washes you away from capital, away from opportunity) is almost always an act of defiance and resistance. The endlessly-circulating idea that HR departments are handing things to you because you're 'diverse' is simply one more raindrop on your umbrella. Shake it off.

Re: What was the age of the oldest person admitted to Y Combinator?

#22

Post by quickthrower2 »

pj_mukh wrote: post #12
Timzzz wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wanted to leverage my age and experience by not applying and just getting on a building it. But I have a founder who is convinced that you need money first then prototypes.I assured her that there is nothing in her proposition needs any tech that you cannot buy off the self or use bubble.io or something. It really bemuses me as she has bootstrapped a confectionary business to over $100m. Sadly got trashed by the so…

“But I have a founder who is convinced that you need money first then prototypes and that nothing in her proposition needs any tech that you cannot buy off the self.” FWIW, when people get into YCombinator, the first lesson they drive home is to talk to users and ship product. Build tech isn’t on that list. People young and old, mess this part up.

I am confused. Then how do you ship a product?

MVP i get. Tech free product I don’t.

Unless we are talking selling something that doesn’t exist.

Re: What was the age of the oldest person admitted to Y Combinator?

#23

Post by pedalpete »

Timzzz wrote: post #9
pedalpete wrote: post #5

I've just turned 50, though I've applied to YC many times before, even in my 30s. It would be nice to know the answer to who was the oldest person, but at the same time, why does it matter? We can't deny that ageism exists in the industry, you're not going to let that stop you from building your business, right? Is there a benefit you get from age that younger people don't have? How are you going to leverage that to…

I wanted to leverage my age and experience by not applying and just getting on a building it. But I have a founder who is convinced that you need money first then prototypes.I assured her that there is nothing in her proposition needs any tech that you cannot buy off the self or use bubble.io or something. It really bemuses me as she has bootstrapped a confectionary business to over $100m. Sadly got trashed by the so…

Your co-founder is wrong, or going about it the wrong way. I don't know what your business is, but if she's already successfully bootstrapped a $100m business, why would she think she needs money to start this venture?

If that money is the $500k from YC, how much difference is $500k going to make for your business?

If it's the valuation post-YC, what makes her think you can get there without the money?

BTW, my co-founder has the same attitude towards YC, and he's only in his 30s, but I'm the one pushing for us to apply. It can't hurt the business, but keep progressing as if you're not going to get in, because that is the most likely outcome anyway.

Maybe I'm sadistic, but I like doing the application, and have been doing them for over a decade now without an invite.

Re: What was the age of the oldest person admitted to Y Combinator?

#24

Post by dataminded »

Timzzz wrote: post #13
dataminded wrote: post #2

1. You and your co-founder might have a lot of relevant industry expertise or a productive Rolodex to accelerate sales. 2. Have you built anything or validated the idea in any way?

wrt #2: She believes you need money first.

If you can't work through disagreements now, starting a business together won't help.

What exactly does the business need to spend money on? You can get a free/starter/subsidized version of just about every component of a tech stack.

Re: What was the age of the oldest person admitted to Y Combinator?

#26

Post by Timzzz »

b20000 wrote: post #18
Timzzz wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wanted to leverage my age and experience by not applying and just getting on a building it. But I have a founder who is convinced that you need money first then prototypes.I assured her that there is nothing in her proposition needs any tech that you cannot buy off the self or use bubble.io or something. It really bemuses me as she has bootstrapped a confectionary business to over $100m. Sadly got trashed by the so…

how can you bootstrap a confectionary business to 100m? curious how that was possible at all to pay for marketing/sales in a cutthroat industry like the food business

She raised expansion capital from traditional loans. It was a not for profit and she has a badass MBA. Yeah the margins were rough, distribution deals even rougher.

Re: What was the age of the oldest person admitted to Y Combinator?

#27

Post by Timzzz »

1attice wrote: post #21

You should do it anyway. Not because it's easy -- it won't be -- but because it will inspire other people after you to try. People who are facing their own barriers -- sometimes the same barrier you're facing, but sometimes ones that you never even imagined. HN loves to crap on DEI efforts, but, point-in-fact, not going with the flow (when the flow washes you away from capital, away from opportunity) is almost always…

Thank you for being human. You are the best. :-)

Re: What was the age of the oldest person admitted to Y Combinator?

#28

Post by b20000 »

Timzzz wrote: post #26
b20000 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

how can you bootstrap a confectionary business to 100m? curious how that was possible at all to pay for marketing/sales in a cutthroat industry like the food business

She raised expansion capital from traditional loans. It was a not for profit and she has a badass MBA. Yeah the margins were rough, distribution deals even rougher.

borrowed money with personal guarantee to pay for marketing and to hire people?

Re: What was the age of the oldest person admitted to Y Combinator?

#29

Post by lnwlebjel »

YC appears to be interested in 1) new technology that 2) is valuable (something people want), with 3) unicorn potential (value in billions) and 4) founders that can devote >80 hrs a week getting it there before someone else does.

If you fit this model, I don't see why age would matter.

FTR, 4) tends to eliminate people over ~30. Also, my observation is that 1) favors the young who seem to have time to identify and play around with new tech in a way that older people typically do not, which would explain the median age of YC applicants, but not necessarily exclude applicants by age.

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