The ideal age to start a startup

The ideal age to start a startup? It’s not 22. It’s not even 32. Honestly, it’s probably whenever your knees start cracking when you stand up.

The best time is when you actually get what's broken in an industry. That usually means you’ve been around long enough to spot all the inefficiencies that drive you nuts. Spoiler alert: a lot of the time, that means 40+.

Let’s look at the numbers:

- Average age of founders with successful exits: 47

- Average age of fast-growing startups: 45

Look at the early SpaceX team. They weren’t fresh college grads—they were seasoned pros who’d seen enough busted rocket prototypes to fill a junkyard.

Here's what I’ve noticed after a decade watching startups:

Younger founder says: "I want to build the TikTok of pet food delivery!"

Older founder says: "After 20 years in manufacturing, I’ve noticed that every supplier struggles with [actual problem]. Here’s my plan to fix it."

### Translation?

→ Context beats code.

→ Experience trumps ‘disruption.’

→ Industry chops matter way more than whatever’s trending on Product Hunt.

In other words, great startups don’t usually come from dorm rooms or 3 a.m. brainstorms over Red Bull. They come from folks who’ve been in the trenches for years and are sick of seeing the same problem go unsolved.

Think about it—most revolutionary ideas aren’t the result of some “aha!” moment in a hackathon. They’re more like, “If I see this problem one more time, I’m gonna lose it.” Take Sara Blakely, who created Spanx because she was tired of awkward shapewear. Or Ray Kroc, who scaled McDonald’s at 52 because he spent decades watching how inefficient the restaurant business was.

So, next time you feel the itch to start something, don’t think about how old you are. Think about how many broken systems you’ve seen. Because chances are, those cracks are where the best ideas are hiding.