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4 of 5 of the biggest tech company founders were in their early 20s. So the biggest ideas clearly slanted towards young visionary founders, but the statistics d

4 of 5 of the biggest tech company founders were in their early 20s. So the biggest ideas clearly slanted towards young visionary founders, but the statistics do skew back towards older founders for all but the largest companies.

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hn_throwaway_99 8y ago
I think this is very important, basically that if you look at the data by something like market cap it would probably skew very young. E.g. AirBnB and Dropbox are (IIRC, may have changed by now) the majority of total valuation for ycom, and those companies were both started by early 20-somethings.
- sulam 8y ago
  YC itself skews young, at least in part I'd say because the sort of help it provides is something that is more needed the younger you are. It's vanishingly unlikely that I will need YC's money, connections, or imprimatur for a startup at this stage in my life. When I was 24 starting a company, it would have been hugely helpful.
johnny313 8y ago
This seems to redefine the question away from "what does a successful entrepreneur look like" in an attempt to maintain the narrative that "young visionaries" are the most successful.
mcbreezy 8y ago
Which 4/5? Zuck yes, Bezos no, Page/Brin: doubtful they were early 20s. Maybe 20s, but not early 20s. EDIT: Page was 25 and Brin was 24: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Page
jknoepfler 8y ago
One also expects the most variance at the tail-end of the success curve, because the sample size is so small. Give it a few centuries and we'll have some data about that part of the spectrum of success stories.
sv12l 8y ago
That is only if you think only 'tech' companies are big and they are the biggest ideas and they are the majority in Fortune 2000, but it's not. There are lot of companies that have much smarter ideas and are clearly big enough to be considered as 'successful', they are mostly skewed towards older founders.
dkural 8y ago
Apple's true success came with Second Steve i.e. mature Steve, not first Steve. Amazon, Oracle, Intel founders weren't in their 20s. Microsoft, Google, and Facebook indeed were started by young founders. Twenty years later Google might be the only meaningful one standing. Time will tell.
- s2g 8y ago
  > Twenty years later Google might be the only meaningful one standing. Time will tell. It's been more than 20 years and Microsoft is still right there.
- Infernal 8y ago
  As I mentioned elsewhere, Bezos was 29 when he quit his full time job and 30 when he wrote up the business plan for Amazon. I think that's close enough for this argument.
nunya213 8y ago
Shocking I know, but there are many industries besides tech.

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hn_throwaway_99 8y ago

I think this is very important, basically that if you look at the data by something like market cap it would probably skew very young. E.g. AirBnB and Dropbox are (IIRC, may have changed by now) the majority of total valuation for ycom, and those companies were both started by early 20-somethings.

sulam 8y ago
YC itself skews young, at least in part I'd say because the sort of help it provides is something that is more needed the younger you are. It's vanishingly unlikely that I will need YC's money, connections, or imprimatur for a startup at this stage in my life. When I was 24 starting a company, it would have been hugely helpful.

johnny313 8y ago

This seems to redefine the question away from "what does a successful entrepreneur look like" in an attempt to maintain the narrative that "young visionaries" are the most successful.

mcbreezy 8y ago

Which 4/5? Zuck yes, Bezos no, Page/Brin: doubtful they were early 20s. Maybe 20s, but not early 20s. EDIT: Page was 25 and Brin was 24: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Page

jknoepfler 8y ago

One also expects the most variance at the tail-end of the success curve, because the sample size is so small. Give it a few centuries and we'll have some data about that part of the spectrum of success stories.

sv12l 8y ago

That is only if you think only 'tech' companies are big and they are the biggest ideas and they are the majority in Fortune 2000, but it's not. There are lot of companies that have much smarter ideas and are clearly big enough to be considered as 'successful', they are mostly skewed towards older founders.

dkural 8y ago

Apple's true success came with Second Steve i.e. mature Steve, not first Steve. Amazon, Oracle, Intel founders weren't in their 20s. Microsoft, Google, and Facebook indeed were started by young founders. Twenty years later Google might be the only meaningful one standing. Time will tell.

s2g 8y ago
> Twenty years later Google might be the only meaningful one standing. Time will tell. It's been more than 20 years and Microsoft is still right there.
Infernal 8y ago
As I mentioned elsewhere, Bezos was 29 when he quit his full time job and 30 when he wrote up the business plan for Amazon. I think that's close enough for this argument.

nunya213 8y ago

Shocking I know, but there are many industries besides tech.