> Then do an awesome startup when your kids are out of the house, you have a solid nest egg, and you can take risks again in your 50s.
Then figure you have 10-20 active years left, and do you really want to spend 5-10 of them on a startup?
Then figure you have 10-20 active years left, and do you really want to spend 5-10 of them on a startup?
If you’re looking at starting, it’s helpful, but it’s important to not delude ourselves either.
Having more life experience helps, but when the funnel has a > 90% overall attrition rate, it’s still far from a sure bet.
Part of the reason why the older folks tend to do better IMO, is it’s more likely at that age that they know their own capabilities better and are less likely to launch down a path they’ll definitely not succeed on, and the numbers reflect that more.
It doesn’t mean automatically everyone once they hit that age will have those odds.
There is a lot of self-selection bias going on.
By that point, hopefully I have enough self knowledge to understand what motivates me and what my true competitive advantages are. I also hopefully have a strong network I can leverage to help me with any blind spots I may still carry. And to spend 5-10 years working on something that I truly am passionate about, which I've worked hard to have the resources to do without encumbering others, sounds rather nice!
The fact is I wanted to build a startup to get rich. That's it really. Now that I am much more finically secure (but not rich by a long shot) I'm not sure I will want to roll the dice or just keep my job as an IC.