How your age affects your chances of success - thoughts after 27 years (I will not promote)

Hey founders. I had some Monday morning thoughts and am writing this to encourage you to take advantage of your age no matter how old you are. I started my first startup at 22. Sold it at 23. Failed several others until I started another one at 33 and sold at 41. After working in VC I started a venture studio and am now 50. I recently saw a post about the average age of a successful founder that goes IPO and the stereotype of founders being 22 and drop out of school. The data shows that founders older than 40 have a better chance of success. (For the record I did drop out of college and I kind of regret it now that I’m old but it’s complicated.) Right now I’m spending two weeks in an incubator with founders of all ages. Some have had previous 9-figure exits, others are struggling, and many are just getting started from recent graduates to those that are transitioning from corporate careers. So it has me thinking. I definitely think the older I was the easier it was to build a startup but it was much riskier. Let me explain. The older you are, the more domain expertise, network and general operational experience you probably have. And with AI recently allowing me to build MVP demos way quicker I can sell much faster. I’m able to hit sustainable revenue so much faster. But I’m married with 2 kids and a mortgage. Every financial mistake I make with my startups is amplified 100x compared to when I was 22. At 22 I could take some crazy swings and live on ramen noodles for years until I made money. I see these young founders working on some really cool stuff and making future bets without being bogged down by life responsibilities. It’s so cool and in some ways I’m totally jealous. But I also work with older founders that have deep pockets and they do it for a lifestyle without needing investors and I think that’s great. In the grand scheme of things I think starting as early as possible is the way to go. I’m glad I started early and failed a bunch of times because I make a terrible corporate employee. I think the earlier you start, the better chance of you succeeding in the long run which I think the surveys ignore. Even getting job at a small startup and getting close the founders is an awesome way to get your foundation in place. But if you’re older, that doesn’t mean it will be harder. Just different. There are advantages you have. But I see many older first time founders treat startups like small businesses or corporations. They don’t take the risks necessary to innovate and disrupt and get frustrated when investors ignore them for not being novel enough. You have to unlearn and relearn way more the older you are, which is something that has challenged me with the shift to AI. Anyway, apologies for the ramble (and any fat thumb mistakes). Have an awesome week everyone!