At 38, am I too old for a startup?
I've had an idea that's been eating me up for 18 months. What's your position on 'older' founders and startups?
At 38 you are most certainly NOT too old to startup. At 38 your personal circumstances may mean that you cannot take the same level of risk that you could at 28 or 21. But if you are happy, healthy, and have a means of keeping a roof over your head and your dependents' head, then go for it.
The very very worst that could happen is that you could find yourself looking for a job in a few months time. But you'll be looking for that job with a bunch more experience, and credibility, than you would have without having tried to start something.
Best wishes to you. Enjoy it. And if your luck works out, you'll make a fortune. If your luck doesn't work out, you'll hold with you a great experience that you'll cherish forever.
Been done plenty of times. Now get to work!
I'm 34 and starting a new company while in the process of leaving my previous one in capable hands.
Starting a company is saying to the world you are ready for a major change in your life. This is a big step, one that shouldn't be taken lightly, especially with a mortgage. But if your losing sleep over this idea at night, then it's one that might be necessary. Even if it's a complete failure, you would have succeeded in changing your life.
Cheers to that!
Oh, and I have two kids, a wife, and a yard. I actually know my kids and they know who I am :-). But, I don't watch TV, the only video games I play are with my kids, and I'm having the time of my life.
You can do it. It's just a matter of desire and priorities. Me, I have more fun getting code to run than watching TV or playing an RPG. And that's really the only "sacrifice" I've made, and I think it's a rather good one, personally.
P.S. You put "am I too old" in the title. You might be able to get one of the moderators to fix that typo.
Age is a state of mind.
Actually, at 41 myself (and 3 months into my own startup), I find that as the kids get older (7 and 11), I'm getting more time again to pursue my passions.
1) Energy (physical, I guess) 2) No serious financial obligations 3) No family obligations.
I think #2 is probably the biggest. However, if you are older and have no debt/mortgage, plenty of everything, they why not. #3 you can't do anything about really, but as long as you don't mess with #2, the #3's in your house won't be too upset.
Also having kids teaches you to sleep efficiently and economically (you sleep when you can).
I find it fascinating to watch startups, I think its an awesome thing to do.
(That submission got no votes at all, which greatly surprised me, given how often people discuss this here.)
It's not a matter of age, it's just a matter of managing commitments.
The other 39 y/o from my cycle was part of a team of 30-somethings.
the standard difference is that younger people tend to have more flexibility in failure -- if they don't succeed they can still get a regular job and retire and live happily ever after. they don't have a family, a house, sometimes don't have a car, are comparatively more healthy, etc. its easier to live off of nothing, bootstrap themselves, and fail gracefully.
a prototypical older person has more responsibilities, has bills to pay, has a family to support, etc.. there's more of a need of a steady income stream. if you feel like you're in a situation to be able to follow your idea and still uphold your responsibilities, then go for it.
Ask yourself these questions:
1. Do you have passion behind your idea?
2. Can you execute your idea to fruition?
3. If not now, when? When your 50? 70?
Don't live life asking yourself "What if?" Give it a try before you dig yourself into a deep hole.
Good luck!
So is there any logic behind this or just a quick response?
Possible drawbacks to older founders include: - may not be able to work for free (or nearly so) for as long a time, because they have families to support (or have simply grown accustomed to a higher standard of living than ramen and crashing on someone's couch). - may not be able to work for as many hours per week, again because of families, accustomed comfort, etc.
On the positive side, older founders are: - more likely to have the business and professional relationships that will facilitate customer sales and/or investor deals. - may be able to work more efficiently and effectively, because of the things they have learned (technology, management, specific domains, business, etc).
There might be some business plans that can best be executed by college-age folks, but there are others that are best executed by someone older -- figure out how to make your idea work for you, and go for it!
I'm designing my first web site.
I can only do it during nights and weekends.
I'm happy.
I'm 35.
I will never quit.
I'm meeting up with the Python folks at the Denny's in Addison off of Belt Line tonight @ 7.
I'd still like to get together and talk for a spell.
I think the last time we exchanged e-mails was back in April.
I'll shoot ya another e-mail.
The first one (flownet.com) failed. Never made a dime. Never found an investor. But we had working (hardware) prototypes.
The second one (indiebuyer.net) made some revenue but ultimately ran out of money and folded.
The third one was acquired by Richard Branson and is now Virgin Charter. (That wasn't an exit, so I still haven't made any money from it. But it's looking promising. At least it's still in business, and doing well last I heard.)
The fourth one is looking pretty promising as well. (Actually there's a fifth one too, which is also looking pretty good.)
So I've been at it off and on for fifteen years (we started FlowNet in '93) and I still haven't made a dime off a startup of my own. But I think I'm getting better at it :-)
Not knowing about the old boy networks and the "way things are done" can be a benefit to a small and nimble startup. The fact is that economics and the requirement to get things done will occasionally be able to trump "the way we've always done it", and by the time you've signed on two or three clients that way, you can find your way into that network and learn how things are done. And, in the meantime, you've built products that offer better value (because you had to, and your competitors didn't) and a business that is run very lean (because you had to, and your competitors didn't).
Often, the problems aren't even hard. Barcodes added to all forms being filed by customers, or added to "things" in the warehouse, or organized in a database rather than on the shelf (like Zappos does), etc. And a lot of non-technical industries make a lot of money...saving a few dozen companies a few dozen million each year via automation is a recipe for a beautiful lifestyle business.
I did IT work for a guy in Austin that served court papers...a totally low-tech industry. Individual guys (and a few rugged gals) drive out to peoples houses and personally deliver divorce court summons, etc. The guy I worked for began automating his company in the late 80's or early 90's, several years before anyone else, and by the time I stopped working for him, I believe he had the largest process service company in Texas (and, probably the nation, since Texas is mighty big), though all are privately held, so it's hard to say for sure who was "biggest", but he covered nearly the whole state and almost everyone else only covered one or two cities, and had several million in revenue from ~30 or so employees and ~100 independent field agents. Anyway, there was tons of low-hanging fruit in this industry because it had never been automated before. And because he had lots of process servers on his payroll and many lawyers/legislators that he worked with on a regular basis, he got to shape policy with regards to how it all worked. The state opened up electronic filings with many of its legal papers around 2005, which gave him an even bigger leg up on the competition, because all of his data was already going into a database.
I'm just saying that technical people might be well-served by looking at currently non-technical industries for their golden goose. There are plenty of industries still to be saved from tedium by making computers do more of the work.
They had connections though - one of the founder's mom is a hedge fund manager. Oh, and his aunt is Heidi Fleiss, the famous Hollywood madame.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_27/b3991043....
Age=experience, which is something a lot of investors are looking for. If you have a startup "itch" then scratch it.
I have friends who have been in the same situation and have not acted. They played safe, but there is always this nagging in their mind - what if I had done it? That does not go away.
I've had three other attempts over the last 20 years, the first when I was 17/18. None of them really took off.
I've been sort of hoping this idea would go away (a sort of 'oh no, not again' feeling), but it won't!
Maybe this is the big one?
I suspect that the OP just wants a bit of reassurance that he's not too old for this. Of course he's not. 38 isn't too old at all.
I'm 36, and I wouldn't try to start a startup right now. But that's mainly because I have, as you said, a pregnant wife, a three year old, and a mortgage. However, I know a few people who aren't even deterred by those things and do work for startups. I even know a founder in that situation. He is excruciatingly busy, though, and I know that it does take a toll on his personal life.
By the way, I think that working for startups and founding a startup are often completely different things. In the tech heavy bay area, I don't think that a talented programmer assumes all that much risk by joining a well funded startup, because if things head south they can often get a well paid new job within a month or two. Furthermore, "stable" jobs often aren't as stable as they seem - especially if they allow you to let your skills get rusty.
So personally, I think that working for a small startup that pays decently and gives you some nice equity isn't all that bad an idea. However, you won't (and probably shouldn't) get anywhere near the kind of equity that the folks who ate ramen and crammed into a 2br apartment for 18 months get. Instead, think of it as an exciting job with a nice potential upside (I know a few parents who scored that nice upside).
dunno if lot of folks here have already read it.
If you feel too old, then hang out with younger people and ask them as many questions as you can. Really put yourself in a learning position where the twenty somethings are your teachers.
So I'm starting a company today. Or maybe I'll do it tomorrow.
But definitely before I'm all spent at age 38.
...I don't think many people have the physical stamina much past that age. I used to work till 2:00 or 3:00 AM every night, seven days a week. I don't know if I could do that now.
-How to Start a Startup
Carlos Lopes of Portugal was 37 when he won the Olympic Marathon ('84, Los Angeles). If that's not stamina, I don't know what is.
But if you only need some drive: the only part of us which really goes down every year is our body; all other things are able to increase, if you continue to train them.