I’m not a 20 year old hacker. Actually, I never was. I spent the first part of my adult life working various labor jobs before ending up in construction. I worked as an IronWorker for 13 years before I finally made the jump to building stuff on the web. I was actually in my mid-thirties when I started with this web thing.
I was dead in the water by some standards. You know, the really smart people, investors. Most investors will tell you not to waste your time on anyone over the age of 25 or so.
Truth is, a person’s thirties are about perfect. You can’t possibly know enough until then. It doesn’t matter what you know about how computer systems work. You don’t know how life works yet.
Being older doesn’t mean you’re washed up
I was reminded of this very fact while I was reading a piece about The Anatomy of an Entrepreneur. It’s full of great content, but one statement jumped out at me.
Founders tended to be middle-aged—40 years old on average—when they started their first companies. Nearly 70 percent were married when they became entrepreneurs, and nearly 60 percent had at least one child, challenging the stereotype of the entrepreneurial workaholic with no time for a family.
That quote was under a heading about family background and motivation.
This kind of hits home for me. I’m 41 right now and surrounded by those younger than me. It’s easy to believe all that I hear about building tech based businesses being a young man’s game.
Every once in a while, us old dudes need to be reminded that we can still rock.