The TRUTH about STARTUP SUCCESS | Why age matters

A successful founder is 45 years old. Can you believe that? I know that today we go on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram, and everyone seems to be killing it when they're 20, 25 years old. But truth be told, they're not.

The Reality Behind the Numbers

It's like when guys who are 5'10", 5'11" just bump their height to six foot. It's the same thing with money. You might be making eight grand a month, but in your head, that becomes 10K a month because "10K a month is like the secret sauce, right? Where everyone is trying to get to."

But the data shows that a successful founder is 45 years old. This is based on a study from 2018 from the top 0.1% fastest growing startups in San Francisco. The average age was 45 years old.

Success Stories That Break the Myth

One of my favorite fun facts: Giorgio Armani didn't start his brand until he was 40. All you 30-40 year olds out there having an existential crisis—look at the successful people. David Ogilvy, Ray Kroc from McDonald's, Sam Walton from Walmart. Look how old they were when they started.

The average age of the top founders of the top 0.1% fastest growing companies in San Francisco is 45. Yet nowadays, Y Combinator gets 20-year-olds who don't know anything about life.

Why Young Founders Are Preferred (It's Not What You Think)

Why would investors do this? It's because it's easier to tell those 20-year-olds what to do. They don't know anything about life. They don't have experiences. If someone more experienced than them is telling them to do something, guess what? They'll just do it.

The previous batch from YC had an average founder age of 24. But this creates a dangerous trap for young entrepreneurs.

Real Examples of Late Bloomers

Jensen Huang (Nvidia) - Founded at 30

He worked at AMD after graduation for two years. Then spent eight years at LSI Logic, a semiconductor company. He spent 10 years working in the hardware field before founding Nvidia.

Jeff Bezos (Amazon) - Founded at 30

Bezos worked at Fitel after graduation for two years. Then was a project manager for two more years at Bankers Trust. Then rose to VP at a quantitative hedge fund and became the youngest VP in the company's history. He was there for four years before founding Amazon in '94.

Martin Eberhard (Tesla Co-founder) - Founded at 43

He started as an engineer at Wyse Technology after graduating as a mechanical engineer. Worked there for five years. Then co-founded Network Computing Devices. Was there for nine years. Then co-founded another company with Mark Tarpenning, who would later be his co-founder at Tesla.

Reed Hastings (Netflix) - Founded at 36

He taught high school math in Swaziland, Africa for two years. Imagine how many experiences and stories this guy must have had. Then worked as a software engineer at Adaptive Technology. After three years, he co-founded a debugging tools company called Pure Software, which went public and was acquired by IBM.

Tobias Lütke (Shopify) - Founded at 25

Dropped out of high school at 16. Started a computer programming apprenticeship at a German company for three years. When he moved to Canada, he was working remotely for a German startup—in 2002! He co-founded an online snowboard shop called Snow Devil, then pivoted to Shopify in 2006. He got experience building online shops first.

The Pattern is Clear

All of these founders got working experience first. They probably had side projects while working their traditional jobs. They built expertise, networks, and understanding before founding their multibillion-dollar companies.

Life is a Marathon, Not a Sprint

Social media has made us extremely shortsighted. We're all looking for the easy way out—the next dropshipping business, the next SaaS, the next course that's going to make us rich. But this is not how life works.

Life compounds. Every season you do a little bit. It compounds to the next season where you'll do a little bit more. That's how you grow. That's how life works.

Men who think in decades are dangerous. There's absolutely no reason to think shortsighted. Our purpose in life is long-term. It's a constant compounding effect when you put in work throughout years and years, and then one day you realize you've built the next Uber, Netflix, Tesla, or Amazon.

The Bottom Line

Give it time. You don't have to rush. Life is not a sprint—it's a marathon. Whether you're 25 or 45, focus on building expertise, gaining experience, and understanding the problems you want to solve deeply.

We're all going to make it. But success comes to those who prepare, not those who rush.