

Ask HN: Does your co-founder have to be the same age as you? - CSunday

I am currently looking for and seeking a technical co-founder for a new music start-up I am working on. It is basically a web app that integrates with social networks (ie: Facebook); Provide 'the' platform &#38; tools for artists to reach a wider audience/fans; allow fans/users to 'directly' purchase DRM-free songs from artist(s) at a market-variable price; and finally, provide an economic incentive for users to share their music discovery with peers. There are so many other possibilities...<p>This year makes me 18 years old...An ideal cofounder for me would have to be no more than 2-3 years older than me, because most older people may not be very comfortable working side-to-side with someone of my age.<p>So, I ask...<p>What would be the ideal age difference between you and your co-founder(s)?
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bootload
_"... I am currently looking for and seeking a technical co-founder for a new
music start-up I am working on. ..."_

Age isn't the problem here, understanding the problem domain is.

 _"... This year makes me 18 years old...An ideal co-founder for me would have
to be no more than 2-3 years older than me, because most older people may not
be very comfortable working with side-to-side with someone of my age. ..."_

I think the idea of a co-founder and age being incompatible has less to do
with age than perceived and actual competence and power. Competence because
it's difficult to work with idiots. Power, because an in-balance of power
regardless of age turns working with anyone into a master/serf relationship.

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petesalty
I think it has a lot to do with lifestyle/attitude more than age. For example,
I'm 40, but I don't have kids, nor a mortgage, nor any other major financial
responsibilities. I do have a long term partner but she's also an entrepreneur
working on her own businesses. I hate to get up early, like to play video
games, work out regularly and like a good strong drink now and again. I have
the lifestyle of a 20 year olod although I'm much more stable both financially
and emotionally. Plus I have a lot of experience - what's not to like?

Don't let age/race/gender/ determine who you partner with, look for
commitment, passion and energy - those are the things that are important.

~~~
pbhjpbhj
_I have the lifestyle of a 20 year old_

Sounds like the lifestyle of a 40+ yr old bachelor to me. You have a "long
term partner" (presume you mean life-partner not business), you have low
living costs, you have disposable income, these are not part of a normal
20-something lifestyle.

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jacquesm
I think what is more important than age is that your motivation for doing a
startup is more or less similar.

This is usually easier to find in your own age-group, but it doesn't have to
be.

Suppose you have a guy that 40, two kids, one in high school and a guy in his
early 20's working together, you'll potentially get friction because both will
have a completely different attitude towards the work (not saying in all case,
but likely).

Whereas both would be in a roughly similar situation that would make it easier
to understand the others point of view and such friction would be less likely
to occur.

I've worked with people in a 20-50 age bracket and I found that it was
sometimes very hard to explain to the older people that the younger ones were
pulling their weight even though they weren't in the office at 9am, and to the
younger ones that the older ones were pulling their weight even though they
left at 5 pm... And that doesn't go in to issues like pulling rank because of
age and so on.

It depends very much on the people involved. It is certainly possible to have
a large 'age-gap' but it is not going to make things easier for the most part,
especially not if the younger person is actually senior in the business over
the older one.

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JCThoughtscream
Thoughtscream's crew ranges from 21 to nearly-30. Personality and chemistry
matters more than an arbitrary age range, I think - though I suppose my
statement's weakened by the fact that we are still all in our 20s.

~~~
pbhjpbhj
"21 to nearly-30", yet you speak as if that is a large age range. 16-70 would
be a large age range. Clearly whatever Thoughtscream is it only associates
younger people.

~~~
JCThoughtscream
You'll notice that I acknowledge that an 8-9 year spread is admittedly a
somewhat narrow range in which to back up my statement?

Now, do you think the statement, that personality and group chemistry
outweighs age difference, should be refuted, or are you merely make a snark?

~~~
pbhjpbhj
_Thoughtscream's crew ranges from 21 to nearly-30. Personality and chemistry
matters more than an arbitrary age range, I think - though I suppose my
statement's weakened by the fact that we are still all in our 20s._

I can't see where in that sentence you said that the age range was narrow IYO.
Was it in another comment?

Yes, I'd agree group chemistry matters more than a specific age range, but you
appeared to be saying "look this group has people all the way from 21 to 30
years, this huge range shows that personality and chemistry ...". Group
chemistry I suspect is highly dependent on age and background and specific
circumstances of the group.

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dabent
I'm 43. If I thought you'd get the job done and we got along well, I'd work
with you.

Note: I'm not currently seeking a co-founder.

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smanek
I'm 23, and my two co-founders are 27 and 31, respectively. It works because
we bring different skills, points of view, etc to the table.

The biggest problem is money. I can live on 1500 a month but one of my co-
founders has a mortgage, the other a kid, etc.

This means we have different timelines and requirements for success.

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Slashed
I'm 21. Currently, our startup is a two-person company. The age difference is
like 13 years. I don't actually feel such a difference, as long as we can both
work hard and achieve our goals, I think. :)

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Mz
I would assume that it's a lot like dating: If the age difference is An Issue
between you and someone, then it's a problem and can be a show stopper. If
it's not, it's not. In some cases, what you have in common in terms of
lifestyle, interests and so on can overcome the difference in age. In other
cases, those strengths just aren't there.

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dnsworks
What really matters is your ability to execute as a team. I was 24 when I
started my last company with a co-fouder who was 31 at the time. We had
completely different backgrounds, and polar views on the world, but we worked
well together as a team. That's really all that matters.

Before my last company, I had been the youngest employee at every company I
received a W2 from. Now I'm an old man at the age of 30 realizing that none of
the engineers I've sat down with for dnsworks would have any recollection of
the Challenger Explosion or the wall falling. Merely a sobering side note.

