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Comment by diego | Hacker News Reader

Yes.

I sold IndexTank to LinkedIn among other things.

It was a gradual process for me that started with the first dot-com boom. It wasn't as big of a deal as I thought it would be.

I was 41.

Cashing out stock from public companies I've been at, selling consulting services before building IndexTank, selling IndexTank.

I don't think there is such a thing as overall happiness. I do live in the present more than I used to, but that's perhaps because I'm older. I do worry less about certain things, but the "worry hole" is always there asking to be filled. We all age, get sick, have family / relationship problems, need to stay motivated. I almost certainly enjoy life more than I would if I were forced to take an unpleasant job, but there are many other things a person can do to make life enjoyable besides trying to win the startup lottery.

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* > I was 41*

Boom. First of all, congrats on that success.

Second, I love hearing stories like this. I'm sure I'm biased because I'm in my late 30s but it's a nice break from all the tech wunderkind profiles in the media and the ageism of VCs & startups.

It's the kids that make the headlines, but think about it this way. Only the novel stories make the headlines. The fact that the news never talks about a 41-year-old selling his company and making it big should be encouraging- it suggests it is more common than the 23-year-old selling & making it big!

Being good looking also helps. Your startup will get more ink if you've got a pretty face.

As for me? I'm out of luck.

I compiled this list a while back, in response to an Ask HN, because I see the over 30 discussion frequently.

Turns out, almost all the uber successful tech entrepreneurs were over 30 when they hit their stride. The wunderkind thing is almost entirely a myth.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7864053

Wow nice to hear!, as myself I'm heading to early 40s... let's see what happens in this decade.

Hi Diego,

Could you elaborate more on the cashing out of stock from public companies point? You sold IndexTank for 1.6 million dollars. I don't really consider that "never work again rich" in this day in age. Were the sales of your stock significant?

I think you misread.. it looks like the $1.6 million is how much was raised in the seed round:

http://www.crunchbase.com/organization/indextank

The acquisition would be much more than that.

The figure was never publicly disclosed but I'd say somewhere between $20M and 200M... If I were to guess I'd say somewhere around the middle of that range.

I haven't seen any public records on the sale of IndexTank, but I'm pretty sure they didn't sell for $1.6MM. I think you're reading the amount of funding they received before the sale.

I don't want to be fussy and all, but even if it was sold for "just" 1.6 million dollars it would represent a big amount of money, and honestly I cannot read quietly that it could not be considered as a "never work again rich" amount of money.

It's the same as getting between 30 and 40 years of an experimented developer's average salary where I work, so it would mean that I can live exactly as I do now (and I can't complain), but at home without needing to work anymore. Just good money to spend with family, travelling or improving your knowledge. Seems like a good deal to me.

people pointed out that it was probably sold for much higher amount.

even so, $1.6million is 'never work again rich'-- at modest 10% return, with capital gains taxes, you would be making enough to pay your family's expenses.

10% return isn't modest today. Risk free US bonds are sub 3%

I think what you're looking at isn't "never work [for someone else] again rich" but "never work [at all, and maybe just never leave your bed] again rich". There's enough room to read either into that sentence, but the former is just as real as the latter because most people who do it once will probably try to do it again.

If your position before the liquidity event is "making low six figures per year in salary," 1.6 million dollars will at least give you an ~10 year buffer in which to make it to your next liquidity event with relatively little risk.

And that one's probably the one that lets you stay in bed for the rest of your life, if that's what you really want (but it probably isn't).

I loved IndexTank. Was a great product. Someone could clone it and it would succeed again.

How about http://www.searchify.com/ ?

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