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Comment by andrewacove | Hacker News Reader

at 20? Isn't there the Peter Thiel program?

Do you have an idea worth submitting to YC? Do you have a good network of people to mine for cofounders?

I'd say that if you've got other people to work with, and an idea to pursue, then try your hand at it and go after YC and similar programs.

If you don't, I'd pick the opportunity that will add the most valuable people to your network (other people who want to do start ups, people who complement your skills, people who could become your best friends/people you'll be willing to go through hell with). That's not necessarily a startup, something like APM at Google would be killer for your network and experience, and bigger companies => more people to connect with.

Final pro-startup caveat: If you find the right people to work with, join a startup. You're only 20, and you're not short on cash. There might never be a better time.

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Final pro-startup caveat: If you find the right people to work with, join a startup. You're only 20, and you're not short on cash. There might never be a better time.

Really agree with this. There's two things you should know which you might not figure out till you're out in the workforce.

- This first is that, despite all the news about the economy blowing up and unemployment on the rails, your industry is still aggressively looking for smart people to hire. I get emails almost weekly from companies looking for people to interview. It's a hard feeling to digest sometimes (I'm in my mid twenties), but you won't be left out to dry with your skills even if you go do a startup, burn all your cash, and fail miserably.

- Understand working capital for what it is. Your age counts for a lot; lots of young people will never realize that youth is working capital that should be spent while they still have it.

I guess the last thing you want to be weary about is burnout, and understand what it is. People love to throw the word around, but they never quite put it into terms, so here it is -

What I learned is that burning out isn’t just about work load, it’s about work load being greater than the motivation to do work. It was relatively easy to drag myself to classes when I thought I was working for my own betterment. It was hard to sit at a laptop and crank out slides when all I seemed to be accomplishing was the transfer of wealth from my client to my company.

written by a former consultant of a large firm - http://tech.mit.edu/V130/N18/dubai.html

> you won't be left out to dry with your skills even if you > go do a startup, burn all your cash, and fail miserably.

That's true, but you might develop a distaste for 'regular' jobs. Not that those will be your only option, but it might be harder to go back.

> lots of young people will never realize that youth is working > capital that should be spent while they still have it.

I'm in my mid twenties too, and I'm sure I'll sound like an idiot when I say that youth is also social capital that shouldn't be wasted. I've spent most of my 20s with my head down on work, and I would take a lot of it back to do some more living. I'm not saying that your youth isn't working capital - it is. But always work smarter, not just harder and longer. There's no immediate prize for effort.

The Peter Thiel grant program won't accept 20 year olds, only <20.

I'm sure, like most rules, it's mostly just a guideline to handle the common case. People have all kinds of circumstances in life, so drawing the line on an age is often something that can be explained through. As a totally unrelated example, I have a Jewish friend that just turned 27 and got an exception made for him for Birthright Israel even though the cutoff is 26.

I talked to a 20 year old and told him what you said about rules not really applying. He's exceptionally well qualified for the fellowship and two degrees of connection away from Thiel/Jim O'Neil and told me that he asked, and was told decisively that 20 year olds are out.

That's really, tremendously depressing. There's a huge list of reasons to follow rules exactly to the letter. Enforcing this one, which should be entirely about potential and not at all about an arbitrary date of birth, is inane.

Well it's called 20 under 20. Slippery slope, etc.

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