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The Age Question (continued)
I walked into a minefield a couple weeks ago when I posted about the age of the entrepreneurs we've been backing. That wasn't really the point of the post. I'd been thinking about my entrepreneur friends who are my age and have accumulated a lot of wealth in the past decade and what motivates them these days.
But the age question was the thing that got everyone's attention. I mentioned that we have tended to back young entrepreneurs in their 30s and even in their 20s.
Well now Valleywag's got a follow-up post (yup, they are drafting on me so I'll gank an image from them), saying that mid 20s is the best time to start a company if you want to hit a home run.
It's a sobering data set. Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Google guys, Yahoos, Paypal, eBay, Skype. All founded in part or in whole by entrepreneurs in their 20s.
I don't totally buy that age matters. I think, as I said in my original post, that age is a mind set.
But just last week I met with the son of one of the best entrepreneurs I've ever backed. The son is 20, and a junior in college. And he's busting at the seams to go build something big and disruptive. Andrew pointed out to us in that meeting that most of the best and brightest kids he knew at Stanford were gone from school by senior year. The pull of the big idea was just too much.
Let's recall that the Stones had made all of their great records (other than Some Girls) by the time they were 30. I have heard that the great scientific discoveries are almost always made by the time the person is in his/her 30s. Of course, there are exceptions to this pattern and painters certainly seem to get better with age as do many authors.
So I don't know if youth is an advantage in the tech/startup world, but it certainly isn't a disadvantage. And I see our job as being able to work with young entrepreneurs in a way that allows them to be their best while helping them where they need it. It's something we are working very hard on perfecting.
The other thing you can take from that list from Valleywag is that many of those founders were at their companies for quite a while. Many still are. Most of the others stayed through the exit. Pushing founders out of their companies is something that is done way too often in our business. We need to figure out how to build companies around the founders, particularly these younger founders who might lack experience but have something even more valuable, a talent for building things that work incredibly well online.
So let's celebrate youthful enthusiasm and the blind ambition that powers many of these companies. Figure out how to harness it and work with it. The results speak for themselves.
Comments (38) | Posted May 16, 2007 in Venture Capital and Technology
Comments
I agree that 30's probably is the best age. I started my first technology company in my twenties, but really didnt have the practical knowledge to understanding how it was best to manage it effectively and get the best return...
Keep in mind, though, that 20's somethings also are much more taken back by VC guys and are easily leveraged into a worse deal... For us in our 30's, though, we are much more intelligent here. We understand the market, and know how to make you compete to fund our businesses. :-)
Posted by: Simian Jones | May 16, 2007 12:47:02 PM
I recently attended a speech by Malcolm Gladwell where he discussed conceptual and experimental innovators.
The former are "traditional" geniuses - having disruptive, big ideas that are bold leaps from what currently exists. The latter make their innovations incrementally, over a lifetime of small changes to existing ideas, but the final results can be no less brilliant.
If it's of interest, I posted more on Gladwell's presentation on my blog:
http://www.ere.net/blogs/Hire_Calling/8B506DC6C37141BCAEB3A31D979012F8.asp
Posted by: David Manaster | May 16, 2007 2:33:15 PM
It makes me smile that a VC can use the term "gank". Thanks for that.
-T
Posted by: Todd Allen | May 16, 2007 2:54:50 PM
There's also a Wired article on conceptual vs experimental innovation.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.07/genius.html
Posted by: Isabel Wang | May 16, 2007 3:03:03 PM
Nothing like being 29 and trying to figure out how be successful - only to read this blog and feel like you have missed your time. Do I qualify for AARP @ 29?
Posted by: Tim O'Malley | May 16, 2007 3:30:40 PM
"Andrew pointed out to us in that meeting that most of the best and brightest kids he knew at Stanford were gone from school by senior year."
I'm guessing this is an overstatement of fact.
Posted by: Shreyas | May 16, 2007 4:45:02 PM
I think we are talking about has to do with neural science, which I admittedly know little about.
I can't think of a single comedian who didn't do his best work when he was in his 20's. (Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, Woody Allen, etc...) Nor Musician (Elton John, Springsteen, David Bowie, etc.)
It isn't just enthusiasm, ambition, and the ability to work long nights. It has everything to do with creativity and the ability to make abstract neural connections, which seem to harden as the brain ages.
When I was ten years younger (I am 36 now), I had three or four ideas at a time that I thought could become viable businesses. One of them I pursued and I was rewarded when two years later my idea was in general demand.
I believe this was because my brain was able to perceive the larger pattern and trends, predicting demand for an idea a few years before it would be realized on a grand scale. Hence the first-mover advantage, a huge benefit to an entrepreneur. The other things: Ambition, risk-taking, etc. havent changed much over the years.
My ideas come less easily today. Arguably, one becomes a better manager with age and experience, but for conceiving and executing an original vision, you are much better off in your 20's.
Posted by: KidCroesus | May 16, 2007 4:54:20 PM
pretty sure this is the same for physicists. i believe all have written their big theories by the time they were 26 (except for einstein which came after).
Posted by: jeremy | May 16, 2007 5:20:20 PM
Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos may have started a company in their 20's but doing their best work well beyond. They are only getting smarter and better.
Posted by: M Pappas | May 16, 2007 5:28:02 PM
Of course if we're going purely by this list, women are past their entrepreneurial prime at birth ... ;) I don't buy it.
Posted by: Stevie Case | May 16, 2007 5:29:19 PM
I think the argument about age is skewed... People in their twenties, and especially people in college, have an environment WAY more conducive to success than people in their 30s or older.
In college it is dorms, abundant intellectual capital, leisure and stipends. In your 20s its very little responsibility to the real world, low over head and, granted, endless energy.
By the time you are in your 30s you environment has changed. Life gets in the way in the shape of weddings, mortgages, children, etc. And you're probably embedded in a career that *isn't* "startups" so you have a much bigger world to reinvent for yourself.
Posted by: RayC | May 16, 2007 6:03:56 PM
Clint Eastwood stars in and directs Unforgiven (age 62)
Tom Waits releases Brawlers, Bawlers and Bastards (age 58)
Roger Clemens wins his 7th Cy Young award (age 42)
Sir Isaac Newton publishes the Three Universal Laws of Motion (age 44)
Da Vinci paints the Mona Lisa (age 52)
Posted by: matt schulte | May 16, 2007 7:17:41 PM
Hi, my name´s Giordano. I´m 29 years old and I work for someone else.
The first step is admitting I have a problem... oh, screw it, this is not working.
Posted by: Giordano | May 16, 2007 8:31:28 PM
What this really shows is that people either start companies in their 20's if they are motivated or wait until their kids are grown in their 50's
The point being, either forsake a family until your successful. Or wait until the empty nest hits home.
Posted by: Stuck in Transition | May 16, 2007 8:56:13 PM
What's next for VCs? Investing in Indigo children.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigo_children
2004 milestone: Child entrepreneurs and activists are changing the business and political landscape via the web
http://www.jrmooneyham.com/s2008ref.html#section9
Posted by: Dimitar Vesselinov | May 16, 2007 10:32:48 PM
OK, I'm 51 years old, still pounding away in the SV start up game. Crazy? Crazy like a fox...
Posted by: jim | May 17, 2007 12:42:16 AM
This may be true for software and web startups, which can be kick-started by just one smart kid and can deliver huge returns to scale. But I am not sure it's true of entrepreneurs in general. Looking at last year's Inc 500, the average age of the CEO was 43. 82% of these CEO were also the company founder. And most of the companies are less than five years old.
http://images.inc.com/magazine/20060901/big_picture.pdf
Jason
Posted by: Jason Devitt | May 17, 2007 1:00:16 AM
I am that 20 year old and I am reading this from the office at 4:30am. We may be young but we work hard and we love what we do! Believe it or not many of us consider this fun.
Thanks for the mention Fred.
Posted by: Jack | May 17, 2007 4:35:58 AM
And on a related note, from The Onion:
Lifelong Love Affair With Music Ends At Age 35
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/30646
Posted by: David | May 17, 2007 9:28:31 AM
Stevie and Giordano nailed it. It comes down to one word..commitments.
In our 30s most of us have children, spouses, mortgages and aging parents. I often meet people that can relate to what I am doing..Launching a new business while running another..until I say "and I have 3 young kids". Someday I will write a book about my experience..and the word "crazy" will be in the title!
On the upside, we have a high drive to succeed so that we can take care of our commitments. It's one thing to have invested your allowance into your business..it's another to have invested your kid's college funds and the equity in your home.
Posted by: Laura Glynn | May 17, 2007 10:34:20 AM
I've been thinking about this question since Fred posted it a couple weeks ago, and in general I'm inclined to agree. As an entrepreneur, I've been involved in three tech start-ups. Ev and I were barely 27 when we founded the company behind Blogger. When I started Kinja with Nick Denton I was 30. Late last year I got drawn in to a third start-up and I am now 35.
Knowing what I know, and having done what I've done, there's no way I'd sacrifice and put in the hours like I did at Blogger, or even Kinja, ever again. When you're in your twenties, you rarely have expenses and commitments like you do when you're older. During the Blogger days I was single and thought nothing of working seventeen hour stretches, six or seven days a week. I had no life but that life. My business was all mingled in my personal, and that was fine.
Now I'm married and have other responsibilities. A mortgage now means forgoing a paycheck or three isn't an option. I'm not ready to max out my credit cards again. That doesn't mean I *want* to be less committed to a new venture, but I know in my heart I am. I just can't/won't put it on the line in the same way.
What's good about VCs backing 20-something companies is that VCs can provide what the 20-somethings often can't: wisdom and experience. In an ideal situation, the 20-somethings kills themselves getting the thing done, and the VCs help them see the forest from the trees. Or as Fred says above, "I see our job as being able to work with young entrepreneurs in a way that allows them to be their best while helping them where they need it."
A 40-something may have the wisdom and experience, but it's hard for the investors to provide the killing themselves/sacrifice component to the team. And many 40-somethings aren't in a position to skip a paycheck or sleep under their desk at the office, etc. Never mind the stress start-ups put in relationships. It's one thing to break-up with a boyfriend because he doesn't understand why you'd spend every minute at the office coding. It's another thing to lose your marriage over it.
The nice thing is that if you're successful as a 20-something entrepreneur, you don't need VCs in the same way the next time around. You have a better network, you probably know angels, and you might be able to fund your own venture.
Posted by: Meg Hourihan | May 17, 2007 10:38:21 AM
As an entrepreneur who just had a baby and a (reformed) musician, I don't know that entrepreneurship or rock-n-roll have as much to do with age as willingness to take risks. Granted, Clapton's Unplugged album is a far cry from Derek and the Dominos. It's still good music, but it ain't breaking new ground.
Posted by: Chris | May 17, 2007 10:44:00 AM
Fortis bank operate a website for European entrepreneurs. They asked what the average Entrepreneurs age was. The (very brief) results can be found in full at http://www.join2grow.biz/Survey/what-is-the-average-age-of-european-entrepreneurs/
... it can be seen that there is a healthy dose of older, wiser entrepreneurs out there.
Posted by: David L | May 17, 2007 10:48:47 AM
I downloaded one song on iTunes on your recommendation, and purchased as much as I could shortly following.
Thanks as always for the solid recommendation!
Posted by: Paul | May 17, 2007 2:38:25 PM
In an industry with no history, the value of experience is eliminated and one's tolerance for risk dominates when considering one's advantage over one's competition.
That's why the people listed on that chart started web companies rather than auto manufacturers or insurance businesses.
And because technology adoption willingness tends to trickle up in terms of age the little experience there was to have in these businesses was concentrated in the young people with enough time to mess around with things like the web and PCs. (Old people are busy, after all.)
Young people's high risk tolerance + but relatively high experience level = increased advantage when competing against 30+ set.
This was a special circumstance of the past 20 years in consumer computing, and a child born today will not have that same opportunity window in this technology. There may be some nascent field to replace it, but the little I can predict about that wild card is that it won't look much like web services. It probably won't be on your computer at all.
So - to those on this thread who've not hit it big yet with their own startup and are pushing 30: Take heart that your experience is increasing in value at a compound rate as the field matures. And if you are really interested in creating a paradigm-shifting startup, stay broke (and thusly risk-tolerant) and start paying attention to what your children care about, rather than what your peers are chasing.
Posted by: matthew roberts | May 17, 2007 4:49:26 PM
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