Don't listen to the Silicon Valley echo chamber - the rest of the country thrives on stable businesses, which are most likely to be led by older founders. Not only can you compete with those 20-somethings, but you can out-maneuver them using the experience you've earned in other environments. Younger founders may have to put in 100 hours a week and make dozens of costly mistakes that you, because of your corporate background, can potentially foresee and avoid altogether.

Reference: http://business.time.com/2013/03/14/ask-the-expert-the-best-...

The difference between now (startup #4 for me) and when I was in my 20s, is now I waste a lot less time and energy on things that don't matter.

My advice is start consulting on something you know just slightly better than the next guy. You can often jumpstart a product development plan by helping a large company define a product they need. Then make that if more than one company really needs it :)

"Starting a company" on the other hand is an excellent idea, if you think you've found a niche where you can make it work.

Your remarks about wanting to "feel the excitement" and "compete with the 20s" though make me think you might want to contemplate what you're trying to get out of it. If it's possibly-positive-value consumption (similar to the idea of starting a clothing boutique or coffeeshop) that's a different decision calculus than if it's an investment of time & some money that's intended to pay off with a given return in a given timeframe.

Some people spend money climbing mountains; some people found guide companies so they can spend more time climbing mountains; some people found sporting goods stores because they've noticed the margins are pretty high and more people seem to be climbing mountains lately. There's a key difference between #2 & #3.

  127. It’s Never Too Late
  Teen years - flipped burgers & partied
  Age 21 - graduated college, flipped burgers, & partied
  Age 24 - touched my first computer
  Age 25 - wrote my first program
  Age 27 - touched my first PC
  Age 31 - wrote my first low level code
  Age 32 - started my first business
  Age 39 - started my second business
  Age 41 - accessed the internet for the first time
  Age 44 - wrote my first browser-based app
  Age 51 - found Hacker News
  Now - having more fun than ever

  It’s never too late, you’re never too old, and it’s not whether the glass is half full or half empty.

  It’s about getting up off your butt and filling the glass the rest of the way.

https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=edw519

Part of the thinking is that once you marry and have a family, then 100 hour work weeks are out. Well, setting aside the discussion of quantity v. quality of work, now that my kids are out of school and out of the nest I'm free to work the long hours again, but this time around I have a wealth of experience and wisdom to bring to the table as well as the hours.

  > In fact, research shows that the median age of U.S.-born tech company founders
  > is 39, and there are twice as many entrepreneurs older than 50 than there are 
  > younger that age 25.

Create a project and work on it in your spare time. Get people using it early, and learn as much from them as possible. When an aspect of your project takes more time than you have spare, find someone to help with that task. Ideally, charge money; and once you have 10-20 customers, double your price and get 10-20 more. Keep doubling your price until a healthy amount of customers start citing price as the deciding factor—you've found a value for your product that serves both you and your customers.

At some point, you'll be making enough to live and save at least $1,000/mo—that's when you quit and focus on your project full-time; if you want to go the funding route, you have that freedom still.

The biggest advantages early-twenty-somethings have over later age groups is a higher risk tolerance and a lack of obligations getting in the way of putting in unlimited time at the office.

The latter is a little dubious, since the data shows that productivity tends to fall after about 40 hours of work a week and to drop off a cliff after 50. Sometimes you gotta crunch, but if you're crunching all the time something is wrong. I consider that a sign of poor planning or "work hygiene."

The former does matter, but it can be overcome by compensating with better planning and by leveraging superior experience. You can compensate for lower risk tolerance by working to de-risk the venture as early as possible as much as you can.

impressiveness = achievements / age

Now that YC has tried to tackle the race and gender concerns, I really hope that ageism is next. They can start by switching the age application question to just an "over 18?" checkbox.

My suggestion would be to stop thinking about "startup founders" as 20-something college-dropouts that we so easily envision, and instead remember that most of the world's successful companies (not startups) are run by older, more experienced CEOs. You might not pull as many ridiculous redbull-fueled all-nighters (or maybe you will), but you've also seen a lot more in the world -- especially in business.

You ask if you're "too old to compete with the 20s" -- I have little doubt that they wonder if they're too young to compete with more experienced businesspeople.

If you want to build a startup, do it.

This topic resurfaces every so often. Google will produce various articles and studies on the topic. Here's a study from HBR using Crunchbase API, LinkedIn, WSJ-

https://hbr.org/2014/04/how-old-are-silicon-valleys-top-foun...

The term "taking another run at the fence" refers to flocks of turkeys, who are often crushed against short fences when the flock panics. They are stupid birds and don't know that they are able to fly above the fence.

For me, the considerations are:

- Time away from family

- Likelihood that the compensation will ultimately be crap

I can compensate for the long hours by taking care of myself, and by working smart.

Assuming you don't squander your early years starting older has some advantages. When you're older you've likely built some domain expertise, have a better idea of what you want from life, and can support yourself better.

For example, I started in my late 20's. By that time I'd saved a lot of money, built steady passive income, was married (wife's career keeps her busy), and didn't have any kids. Since most other areas of my life were taken care (especially financial) of I could pour myself into my startup without worrying about raising money or runway.

That said, remember that wanting to feel "the excitement of a start-up" is the wrong reason to join or start one. Before quitting your job I'd highly recommend just starting a side project and do it for at least 6 months before making any major decisions. It's very unglamorous and odds are you won't even launch a product, which is fine. Better to learn that now than after you quit your job because 35 isn't too old to start a startup but it is too old to be unemployed.

https://www.quora.com/What-do-people-in-Silicon-Valley-plan-...

Lots of great examples of entrepreneurs who founded successful companies after turning 35, and includes answers from Craig Newmark (Craigslist), Reed Hastings (Netflix), Jimmy Wales (Wikipedia, Wikia), and more.

Usually from mid 30s people, the answer is hell, no.

I have been told by some that corporate experience allows you to develop good working relationships that can be used when finding co-founders as well as getting customers.

Jan Koum started WhatsApp when he was 33. Now I'm not saying you are the next Jan Koum but I do believe it's never too late to work on something you're passionate about.

Sometimes joining an early stage startup can let you be part of that exhilarating experience so that's one idea.

Also, it's better to bootstrap with savings than raise VC at the beginning.

The Ray Kroc Story

“If I had a brick for every time I’ve repeated the phrase Quality, Service, Cleanliness and Value, I think I’d probably be able to bridge the Atlantic Ocean with them.” —Ray Kroc

How do you create a restaurant business and become an overnight success at the age of 52? As Ray Kroc said, “I was an overnight success alright, but 30 years is a long, long night.”

http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/our_story/our_history/the_ray...

You are never too old to dream! Jut work hard and you will get to where you want to be.

Two words: fuck 'em.

Signed, a 35-year old CEO.

In the mean time, I want to have some financial security, sort out immigration to the US, etc.

It takes a good 10 years of coding before you can make products from design to development to maintenance and live mode, and some good working time to understand problems that need solving.

You are actually in the prime age for entrepreneurship. Go get it.

Paul Graham and Robert Morris started Viaweb when they were 31/30 years old and sold it after a couple of years.

VCs do want younger because it is better terms/leverage (http://business.time.com/2013/03/14/ask-the-expert-the-best-...) but if you have a good company/product that is investable you will get investment, or if you make a product people want, people will want it if you get it in front of them. I think the bias toward funding only young is also probably harming products differentiation.

However you can understand why VCs go younger, mainly because success of those kids is like an emerging underground band that might sell out stadiums one day. They want in earlier than other VCs or before anything of value has been created so it is under their umbrella. VCs are hipsters in that they are trying to find value before others see it.

VCs main goal is to pan for Zuckerbergs like gold upstream from the blue ocean well before the red ocean, because in 5-10 years time they might be their 1 in 10 successes needed. It is a risk they are willing to take to get potential big companies very early.

But you can build a company that makes you a success where you can create your own freedom at any age, you might do it so well you don't need investment, or it may make your company more robust and market tested because you have to bootstrap instead of seeking investment.

Great people with great products find a way.

Some links on ages of entrepreneurs:

http://www.quora.com/What-successful-Internet-entrepreneurs-...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/krisztinaholly/2014/01/15/why-gr...

http://techcrunch.com/2011/05/28/peak-age-entrepreneurship/

https://hbr.org/2014/04/how-old-are-silicon-valleys-top-foun...

http://venturebeat.com/2014/10/31/why-middle-aged-entreprene...

https://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/advisor/older-entrepreneurs-...