

Ask HN: What do you think of a startup with cofounders with a 35 year age gap? - chromedude


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trussi
What are the roles of each person? Is the younger person the hacker and the
older person the bizdev? Or vice versa?

If the older person is the bizdev and has a lot of domain expertise, then it's
a HUGE advantage!

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malandrew
It depends. I started on my startup with my father (a startup founder in the
90s and a interim CEO for a failing startup. Neither were tech businesses) and
the ~35 or so year gap proved to be a burden given the business model and
culture I and my other co-founder wanted to establish. Tech startup business
models and cultures can be very different from established business models and
cultures. This can be very stressful if your older partner isn't
psychologically ready to adapt their experience, because the truth is that
they may have to be very flexible. Expectations became a huge source of
conflict for use. If you want to discuss this personally, shoot me an email.

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hugo31370
Focus on what matters, age isn't probably the main concern. Maybe a 35yr gap
affects the expectations that each founder has in terms of dedication and
outcome, but shouldn't you be talking about it anyway independently of the age
gap?

My advice is to focus on what matters and forget about age. Is it a good
personal fit? Do you have fun working together? Do you have the same
expectations? Can you agree on equity share? Do both founders add value?

In brief, just make sure you can be good partners.

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iworkforthem
I agree... it is the drive and will to get things done.

I am 34 yrs old, I definitely have more to lose when I compare myself to a
fresh graduate who have less commitments than me, I have to make things work.
So if my co-founder is just as driven as me to succeed. WHY NOT? :)

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leslyn
There are three of us and we span three generations in terms of age. The age
doesn't 'matter as much as the motivation and drive to succeed as has been
said. The younger ones have the tech savvy, the older ones accumulated
business acumen, I think there is a nice balance with that diversity of
experience but then again, I am in the middle of it.

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jrubinovitz
What do I think? I don't know what to think, I cannot base my thoughts on a
start up on an knowledge of a 35 year age gap alone. Ergo, if you're asking if
it matters, I do not think it does. It could even be advantageous to have the
different views of two different age groups.

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dangrossman
People go into business with their parents all the time. If I could convince
my father to go into business with me, we'd kill it... no matter how good I am
at dev stuff, his 30 years experience in growing businesses would be way more
valuable.

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AznHisoka
The older people can sometimes bring more experience to the table if he was in
previous ventures and learned from his mistakes. He/she can tell you flaws you
can't see.

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amorphid
Impress us with a cool frikkin' product!

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10dpd
It depends.

