I'm curious to know how many YC companies with founders over 30 yrs old have been funded.
We hear so much about founders right out of college. I also wonder how much of a factor is age in selecting companies.
Ask PG: YC Founders over 30 yrs old
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Re: Ask PG: YC Founders over 30 yrs old
#2Normaly there are a lot of rule about age discrimination, but I don't think they exist in terms of investment $. I wonder if there are any such pitfalls when building an incubator?
Re: Ask PG: YC Founders over 30 yrs old
#3rescuetime is one example right off hand, also not sure how old Matt Moroon at draftMix is but def does not strike me as fresh out of college. sure there is a few more as well.
Re: Ask PG: YC Founders over 30 yrs old
#4There 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.
Re: Ask PG: YC Founders over 30 yrs old
#5rescuetime is one example right off hand, also not sure how old Matt Moroon at draftMix is but def does not strike me as fresh out of college. sure there is a few more as well.
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Re: Ask PG: YC Founders over 30 yrs old
#6It isn't surprising most founders are in their twenties given demographics which are probably close to this on HN:
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=517039
It looks like those in their thirties are well-represented. I don't see why age would make a difference anyway. If you blow them away, my guess is you're in. Just spend a few hours on your application, get a few people who you think are smarter than you to review your application with you for a few hours, submit it, then go back to focusing on your startup.
Re: Ask PG: YC Founders over 30 yrs old
#7Re: Ask PG: YC Founders over 30 yrs old
#8This 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.
Re: Ask PG: YC Founders over 30 yrs old
#9There 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 to YC.
Re: Ask PG: YC Founders over 30 yrs old
#10The demographics here are kind of straightforward.
If you're over 30, you're more likely to have a family.
If you have a family and you can handle starting a company from zero, you're less likely to need YC. If you can't handle starting from zero, YC doesn't help you anyways.