>I think this is why a lot of crazy big startups come from younger people, they can afford to go for broke before they have a family and other obligations, because the worst that can happen is they are left with nothing, then they settle for a high-paying job at a big tech company and 2 months later they can afford a new car.
This really isn't true. The average age of a successful entrepreneur is 45.
> But as a general rule startup founders are young
Successful entrepreneurs tend to be > 40. Young people have the time and energy, but they don't know shit compared to themselves in 15 years. See warrenm's post here.
> Startups are only for people who are under ~25 (maybe 30), have no families, are willing to spend all their waking hours pursuing someone else's dream, and think they're going to make bank doing it and are willing to take that gamble.
OR those over 55 whose kids have left school, have mostly paid off their debts, already achieved a few things and have the experience, strength of character and financial stability to look their 23 year old CEO in the eye and say "sorry, I'm busy this weekend" when necessary.
Rapid exit focused startups are no place for those in their 30's and 40's. I say this as someone who spent their 30's and 40's in startups but survived.
> This data probably doesn't reflect the insane number of 20 somethings chasing ideas in markets like the dating space right now. Most of them fail.
Without being ageist, I think that you see a disproportionate number of younger founders simply because their current situation better allows for taking risks. When you have a family and are are responsible for at least 1/2 the household income, that choice becomes a lot harder.
My theory is that age is only a proxy for success, given that most businesses fail because they run out of money. Older founders may have access to larger war chests than younger founders.
> "And even for those few, it's a mistake to start too young. If a startup succeeds, it takes over your life in a way that cuts off lots of other opportunities."
Curious for more of an explanation here. I am 27. When is too young? As someone who sold their company, I can attest that it takes over your life, but the amount of things I have learned is insane and I wouldn't trade that.
> The average age of the successful startup/business founder is way older than what the media lets people know by showing only the youngest entrepreneurs i.e. the outliers who are noteworthy.
Interesting point. If I think back to the person I was in my mid-20s, I would not have had the dedication, confidence, people skills, or even the technical know-how to pull off anything approaching a successful business (I still may not for all I know, but I'm trying). However, I've met a few brilliant people in that age range who seemed to excel in all of those attributes I just listed :) -- but they're definitely extreme outliers, as you say.
The thing about this is that even pointing to someone that was a successful CEO at 26 doesn't tell you much about whether it's better to be a young founder. Someone that's a successful founder at 26 may well have been a successful founder at 56 but they didn't need to be a successful founder at that time. There are lots of reasons to not start a successful company in your youth, and those same people still have 30 or more years to do so.
> Right now I am in my thirties and have some flexibility to roll with the punches of capitalism, but that won't be the case when I hit 40/50+ when the one acceptable 'ism that everyone turns a blind eye to starts to playout ; ageism.
There have been studies which put the average age of successful founders in their mid-40s. We romanticize the kid in college making something happen, but the reality is that people need experience to see problems worth solving.
>There have been studies which put the average age of successful founders in their mid-40s.
There have also been statistics which put the average percentage of succesful founders among attempted founders at 0.0001% (number pull out of my ass, but the gist is: most startups fail).
So, this is not as reassuring as it sounds, as it amounts to something like:
"You might be fired at mid-40s under an IT sector that discriminates against hiring older developers, but don't worry: you can always start your own startup with odds of it succeeding not that different to winning the lottery".
>>we found that the typical successful founder was 40 years old, with at least 6-10 years of industry experience
being a successful gounder requires many good years to get there. I recall seeing a number as large as 7-10 years. Combine that with the 6-10 years of industry experience, which most likely includes previous failed startups, it means they started in at least their mid-20s.
What I take away from this is - start the starting of your company early (20s) and if you keep at it, you'll be successful by the time you're 40.
> I often worry about whether my startup clock is running out. I'm closer to 30 than 20
To be fair the largest demographic of startup founders is in the 30-39 age bracket. While successful twenty-somethings with big exits is something the press likes to cover, they are very much outliers.
> The average age of first-time entrepreneurs in all industries is 43; in tech industries, the average age is 39.
This obviously doesn't mention how successful those older entrepreneurs go on to be.
I'd like to know if there is a significant difference in the success rates of tech companies started by 18 year olds and 28 year olds. Does it actually make empirical sense to start a company when you're 18, or do those 10 years of working drastically improve your chances such that you should hold off?
> Many observers, and many investors, believe that young people are especially likely to produce the most successful new firms. We use administrative data at the U.S. Census Bureau to study the ages of founders of growth-oriented start-ups in the past decade. Our primary finding is that successful entrepreneurs are middle-aged, not young. The mean founder age for the 1 in 1,000 fastest growing new ventures is 45.0. The findings are broadly similar when considering high-technology sectors, entrepreneurial hubs, and successful firm exits. Prior experience in the specific industry predicts much greater rates of entrepreneurial success. These findings strongly reject common hypotheses that emphasize youth as a key trait of successful entrepreneurs.
"Of course this is assuming you're young/no dependents etc. but that's most startup founders."
This is far from true.
"In fact, research shows that the median age of U.S.-born tech company founders is 39, and there are twice as many entrepreneurs older than 50 than there are younger that age 25." [1]
> because you’re not in a place to start a business doesn’t mean other people your age aren’t
There are more twentysomethings without families, able to burn the candle at both ends, and not take a salary while a vision comes together than thirtysomethings. That isn’t an ageist proposition because it doesn’t imply many people in their fifties don’t do it.
None of the above are necessary for a founder. But they’re selected for, explicitly and implicitly, which means a random pool of start-up founders will tend to bias young.
> the mean age of high-tech founders is 43.2, economists say
I could see this. From the perspective of an Engineer I'm 36 and I have never been more qualified to start a company than today. People I work with in their 40s are great I've had the opportunity to learn from some excellent people in my career
"However, the vast majority of people in such startups don't have that problem, because they are young and single - burning a year or two at both ends is a worthwhile risk."
The most common entrepreneur is not someone like Bill Gates. It's a middle-aged white male starting a company in an industry hes been in for years. Young people being the most common start-up founders is actually a myth.
My friend is 25 with a child and a wife without access to capital or time. Sometimes your not in a position to start a company which is fine. But don't blame it on your age.
This really isn't true. The average age of a successful entrepreneur is 45.
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