

Age and the Entrepreneur - julieb2
http://paul.kedrosky.com/archives/2008/05/01/age_and_the_ent.html

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webwatch
It's strange to me that people seem to _want_ the average age of the start-up
founder to be low...why is it more fun if the founder is young than if they
are in their 40s?

As a side note, there are some insightful comments that point out the
differences in the two data sets that the writer is referring to (a study vs.
anecdotal evidence from VC Fred Wilson). But it's an interesting read, none
the less.

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edw519
"want the average age of the start-up founder to be low"

Then they must be brilliant. If a 40 year old was brilliant, then why didn't
he do this 20 years ago? (They tend to forget that it wasn't like this 20
years ago.)

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cstejerean
plenty of companies got started more than 20 years ago. What would have
prevented you from starting a company when MS or Apple started?

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edw519
Having a grandfather worth $20 million.

Seriously, don't kid yourself. It was a VERY DIFFERENT world back then. You
graduated college and hoped you could find a job. There was no www and you
needed 5 to 10 grand just for hardware and proprietary software. It's utterly
stunning how easy it is to get started today compared to then.

(Bill Gates and Paul Allen went to the private Lakeside School which had a
privately donated PDP-11 in 1968. Imagine being 13 years old and having access
to the same computing power as Stanford University. The other 99.99% of us had
to wait another 10 years for access to a computer.)

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amichail
Software was a lot harder to write when I was in high school.

Also, entrepreneurship wasn't encouraged.

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cstejerean
Which means there was a lot less competition.

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abless
The only real reason why it's harder for older people to make a startup is the
high risk involved. Once you have a family you cannot mess around anymore.

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amichail
Isn't it the responsibility of the wife to bring in a steady income?

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typicaljoe
Best comment ever

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edw519
Your both either single or sleeping in the other room tonight.

~~~
amichail
It actually makes sense since women are so risk-averse. Wives should support
entrepreneurship by making it easier for their entrepreneurial husbands to
take risks. And that means bringing in a steady income.

~~~
inovica
I thought your original comment was funny, but now I realise you mean it. Oh
dear

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nadim
This is a good snapshot of the population right now, I'm curious to know what
the trends are. I suspect the 25-34 age category is growing and the 35-44
category is shrinking.

"When starting a startup was expensive, you had to get the permission of
investors to do it. Now the only threshold is courage." [1]

[1] <http://www.paulgraham.com/webstartups.html>

