Ask HN: Great tech entrepreneurs who saw success in their mid 30s?

[BigCanOfTuna]

There seems to be no end to the stories of entrepreneurs in their 20s becoming an over night success in the tech industry. While these stories are very inspiring, time has pushed me into my mid-30s and the stories have less relevance to me. I'd be very interested to hear from those who screamed F-T-W and finally followed their entrepreneurial spirit in their mid-30s.

Anyone care to share their thoughts?

[mattm]

Just remember that stories of entrepreneurs making it big in their 20s is news because it is uncommon. If it was normal, you wouldn't hear about it. No one writes a news story about the sun rising everyday.

People starting successful businesses later on in their career doesn't make the news because it is probably more common.

Also, there is no such thing as overnight success despite what these stories may have you believe. When I have read or listened to interviews from entrepreneurs, it is quite common that the "overnight success" was 10 years in the making.

This is from Mixergy's latest interview with Seth Godin:

"I started more than 100 businesses before I had one that really worked. I was three weeks away from bankruptcy for six years in a row. I went window shopping in restaurants. I launched a video tape with fish swimming back and forth for people who couldn’t have an aquarium. I had a business selling light bulbs door-to-door to raise money for marching bands. There’s a really long list of failures."

[m_eiman]

And here I thought that entrepreneurs were the ones who did something nobody else has done before - what's the deal with needing role models that are just like yourself? (And I don't mean the poster specifically)

It really should have no impact on either your performance or your willingness to do something if someone else was this age or that when they did something impressive. IMHO.

If the timing is right and the idea and execution are excellent, it'll be big. If not, it won't. Just go ahead and find out which one it is!

[rmorrison → m_eiman]

"It really should have no impact on either your performance or your willingness to do something if someone else was this age or that when they did something impressive."

This is absolutely right. It's good to learn from role models, but just take what's helpful and leave the rest. Sure there were people who were younger, smarter, prettier, and smelled better, but as m_eiman said "If the timing is right and the idea and execution are excellent, it'll be big".

It's impossible to compare your situation to anybody else anyway. For example, it's impossible to tell how successful somebody is by the $80,000 car they drive. They may own it outright, they may owe more than the car is worth, you can't tell.

Actually, watch the Mixergy interview with Seth Godin, he specifically talks about being different.

[waivej]

My entrepreneur energy has definitely changed (also in mid 30s). Ten years ago it was all about the "great idea" and working really hard. Now it's about strategy and observing the way the world works and choosing where/when to work hard. I keep feeling like I should be able to "see" the big picture better.

I think Ben Franklin said it well: "At twenty years of age, the will reigns; at thirty, the wit; and at forty, the judgement."

It makes me think of a friend that's been an entrepreneur for 40 years. He carefully planned a new business where he could work 15 hours per week and make very good money. It's like he doesn't waste time doing anything unnecessary.

[ojbyrne]

Many studies have shown that older entrepreneurs are more successful. The canonical example is Ray Kroc, who started McDonalds in his fifties.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Kroc

[TomOfTTB → ojbyrne]

I think your comment is most on point here. I understand the original poster's need to find validation but the reality is the forces that decide whether you can be a successful tech entrepreneur aren't external. It's the Internet for God's sake you can be 15 or 115 and people probably won't even know. Those who will know probably don't care (there have been YCom. startups by people in their 30s)

The question's that matter are internal. Do you still have it in you? The one advantage youth has is energy. Can you work the 7-9 schedule? Can you make it through the 84 hour weeks? Are you passionate enough about your idea to do that?

That's what matters. The rest is just navel gazing imho

[rimantas → TomOfTTB]

Obligatory link to http://37signals.com/svn/posts/1078-it-doesnt-have-to-be-all...

  We’ve repeated this story so many times that it’s
  starting to wear a little thin, but here it goes
  again: Basecamp was created wit 10 hours/week of
  programming time and as a 3rd or 4th project alongside
  paying customers for the designers over the course
  of about 6 months.
  In other words, we didn’t drop everything we had
  to create Basecamp, and you don’t have to either.

[BigCanOfTuna → TomOfTTB]

Sorry dude, not looking for validation. Just looking for stories of people not in their twenties, and becoming a success.

[employfive]

Reed Hastings founded Netflix at age 37, Peter Thiel co-founded Paypal at age 31, Reid Hoffman founded LinkedIn at age 35.

[fiaz]

Larry Ellison started Oracle in his 30s

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Ellison

[jasonlbaptiste]

i think pg might fall into this category. i checked wikipedia and he was around 33 when viaweb sold to Yahoo:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Graham

[akshat]

Sam Walton. While he started Walmart when he was 44, he had made headway by the time he was 36. His book "Made in America" is a must read.

[davidw]

I don't think Tim O'Reilly really made it big until he was a bit older: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_O%27Reilly

[FreeRadical]

Duncan Bannantyne (a well known entrepeneuer in the UK) was 30 when he started his first business.

[axod → FreeRadical]

His autobiography is a really good read. Very interesting.

[xiaoma]

Jeff Bezos founded Amazon.com at 30. It wasn't that big until 3 years later.

[sandis]

Ray Kroc, Jeff Bezos and others are, of course, extremely successful, but these are more than a decade old examples. Anyone aware of more recent cases? I'm not doubting quantity/quality of the "modern" cases, I just can't recall any at the moment..

[francoisdevlin]

Being older cuts both ways.

Deliberately unlearn stuff about tech. Don't let your additional preconceptions slow you down. What was impossible yesterday is commonplace today.

On the other hand, take advantage of the fact that you know more about business, people & life than you did 10 years ago. Those lessons are timeless for a reason (e.g. How to Win Friends & Influence People).

[pedalpete]

If you look at many of the comments on this thread, they point to the very interesting fact that many of the entrepreneurs became 'over night success[es]', in their 30s, though they may have started the company in their 20s.

Don't let that discourage you BigTuna. Remember that the media needs an angle, and 'middle-aged' or 'mid-thirties' succeess doesn't have the ring of teens and 20s, or 80s for that matter.

It isn't the age that brought the success (though it may have brought some noteriety). It is more likely the ability to do a few things. 1) look at the world with fresh eyes to discover new opportunities 2) accept the risk of actually doing something with your discoveries. I suspect what is being risked is different for each person.

I'm sure there are more reasons, but those two jumped to mind.

[keefe]

Don't forget the venerable http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonel_Sanders from my home-state who started franchising KFC at 65. How long does a successful startup take to build once you hit the proper idea, 5-10 years? You regularly see professional athletes working into their 40s, I find it hard to believe physical degradation is more significant for programming than it is for athletics. I think one thing that happens is that people get older, have families and at this point the risk becomes much higher and the drive drops quite a bit lower - if you've got your wife selected already and a few kids and a good salary, it's a lot easier to just accept that life.

[newsio]

Marc Benioff was in his mid 30s when he founded Salesforce, after a pretty successful career at Oracle.

The guy who founded Android (can't recall his name) was as well, but he already had founded some companies.

[pedalpete → newsio]

Andy Rubin, he founded Danger after working at Apple, Magic (an apple spin-off) and WebTV.

[russgray]

Andrew Black was in his 30s when he founded Betfair.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betfair

[simonreed]

The average and median age of a company founder at the time when he/she started the business is 40:

http://www.kauffman.org/uploadedFiles/ResearchAndPolicy/TheS...

[staunch]

Evan Williams was in his 20's for Blogger (~31 when it sold), and 30's for Twitter.