When we did YC, I was 36. I wasn't the oldest, but it was close. There have been founders in their 40's and even 50's (as far as I know - could be even more).
The problem with older founders... your needs are different (financial burdens, children etc) which makes it more difficult to succeed. As a "kid" you are much more likely to live with 6 other people eating ramen and coding 18 hrs a day.
This is an interesting point and one that I've seen multiple people bring up over time on HN. Often as first hand feedback from the person with a family. Financial obligations are more. No doubt. When I started my first company I lived off of a few hundred dollars a month (personally) and put everything else into the company.
And your point about "eating ramen" is too true.
In my experience, founding a company in my 20's, early 30's and doing one again in my late 30's is that finding a big opportunity is equally hard at any age. I don't see that getting any easier. However, what I do differently now is that that I'm infinitely more disciplined. I talk to customers earlier, I spend less time on building a prototype (6 weeks to 12 weeks max), and am willing to kill an idea as soon as I realize that its not going to get me to my goal.
What I'd be interested in seeing are stats on the success of 30+ founders who are on a 2nd/3rd startup vs. 1st time founders who are 30+. My guess is these two groups would diverge widely, but that's just a guess.
Importantly, I find some parts of starting a company much easier at this age.
First, and perhaps most importantly, my wife and I have committed to the startup lifestyle (not a lifestyle business per say, but to pursuing opportunities to grow our net worth). We openly discuss our goals. We have been together through 2 companies, so we know how much of a pain this one will be. We are in agreement that the costs of building a new company are worth the potential to take us to the next level financially. I find this is where many people think that starting a company after marriage is more difficult. However, I have seen that being married can lighten your load as a founder if you and your spouse agree on who will carry what load. One of my friend's had the same conversation with his wife. She's starting a company, and he's pulling a huge load at home. So the same advice works for both men and women.
In terms of distractions, I have way less of them now than when I was younger. Everyone I know is busy with family and kids, so there is little pressure to hang out and waste time.
This is totally personal experience/opinion, but kids have been a boon to my startup work. There's no way to explain it except to say that spending time with my daughters is calming. Stress be damned.
Maybe its just me, but I find the 20 year olds of today exceptionally capable. I am super impressed with how good the younger generations are. They are focused, motivated, capable. I find this beneficial both because I have now have experience, but there is an entire younger generation who are wonderful to speak with, learn from, and work with.
The financial aspects of starting a company now are a world easier. Without diving into detail, its a cake walk now. I don't starve. I know to expect losses on some ideas. I've had enough failures and some successes to know that sometimes ideas and companies fail, and sometimes they succeed.
In summary, your point is well taken. It's definitely different.
I am guessing you guys are in heavy development? because I didn't see how you go from using spreadsheets to using your solution (at least from the code samples). I am guessing people who use spreadsheets to build "apps" aren't typically in a position (skill-wise) to use JavaScript to do anything sophisticated.
Sorry about that. The video is for an older MVP. I pushed the product live last week before attending NodeDay, so I really need to update the video.
The specs are actually written using a small JavaScript file which is then serialized to JSON, which is used to generate the JavaScript.
The best way to experience Exponetial.io is via:
npm install -g exponential
Then just create a login on www.exponential.io and you're ready to go.
If you don't have Node installed, then installation instructions for Mac, Windows and Linux can be found at:
Site note: We're definitely early alpha. So Exponential.io as it stands now is for early adopters who are ok with giving feedback to drive product features. Our target is to hit beta by April 30.
There are tons of problems more common with younger founders, like...
1. Lack of wealth. Funding is glamorous but it sucks to not be able to move forward without convincing someone else to give you money.
2. Lack of industry knowledge. Disrupting a market is hard when you have no first hand experience in it.
3. Lack of relationships. You're more likely to know more people who can help your business, and who will trust and recommend you, as you age.
4. Limited perspective. It's easier to avoid common mistakes once you've already made them.
5. Lack of credibility. Tech startups are a supposedly a young mans game but if you're not doing a consumer internet venture and are selling to businesses you might run into concerns about your credibility. A lot of people will hesitate to buy a service from a 22 year old.
On the other hand some of the assumptions you make about older founders aren't accurate. I'm in my mid 30s, don't have kids and am in a much stronger financial position (6 figures cash in the bank from years of consulting, fiance with 6 figure job) than I was when I was in my 20s. That enables me to invest in my business without having to go begging for investment. If you choose to have a family and run up an expensive lifestyle there's nothing wrong with that but not everyone 30+ has 3 kids, 2 BMW leases and a $800,000 mortgage.
By the way, coding 18 hours per day is not the way to succeed. Any entrepreneur coding 18 hours per day is doing it wrong.
Fixed that for you.
*(generally speaking, & speaking of myself)
Many founders are in their 40s and some are in their 50s.
In my YC class, I would say the median age was roughly mine: 28. Any number of founders were in their late 30s and 40s.
The best advice I've read is that you need at least one of those things. And it needs to be done very well.
Dropbox is the traditional example. IIRC they had a ton of signups and traction before building their product.
If you're a first time founder without significant traction, I think it's very unlikely to get into YC. I can imagine less than 5% of first time founders in the past few years that got into YC didn't have decent traction. Does anyone have numbers on that?
The impression I got by reading all the stuff in the tech press, is that almost no one will fund just an idea - even seed funding - you do need to have a working product, and traction and customers, etc.
The other question is : Is it possible to get into YC if you are much older than your mid-twenties or early thirties? I know it is theoretically possible - but are there any YC founders in their forties or even fifties?