The Big Question About Age

So, several of your have sent me this article about age of the startup founders and rate of success. Having read it twice now, it is a great reminder of how under-represented in major media that the "middle of the bell-curve" of startup land is. 

Silicon Valley and social media love to bombard us with story after story of 20 yr-olds working out of the garages and unicorns. I for one grew up reading about Gates, Jobs, Andreessen, Larry & Sergey, Musk and Zuckerberg, etc. and think that if I too, don't aspire to create some kind of unicorn, there's reason to be in the field. The fact is success in the start-up world does not always have to be associated with a hyperbola-growth and unicorn stardom. Those who achieve such have rarely been motivated by the end result solely, rather fuelled by a passion to do something differently and build a great product. 

There is nothing wrong with aiming to build something that delivers unique (even incremental) value to the users, having a solid go to market strategy and sustainable, organic growth. 

This article is a healthy dose of reality of the much broader landscape of startup world beyond the (blinding) horizon of the unicorns, and definitely a [much needed] breath of fresh air personally after me lamenting the passing of my 20's without a unicorn exit happening. ;) After reading this and taking a sobering breath, I feel a surge of energy, drive and optimism stronger than ever before to take on the start-up world with experience, and yes perhaps even age on my side.

#musing #opinion #startups #founder #entrepreneurship #reason ##sustainability