Ask HN: What do you think of a startup with cofounders with a 35 year age gap?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3359437

by chromedude • 15 years ago

5 10 15 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

trussi• 15 years ago

What are the roles of each person? Is the younger person the hacker and the older person the bizdev? Or vice versa?

If the older person is the bizdev and has a lot of domain expertise, then it's a HUGE advantage!

10dpd• 15 years ago

It depends.

dangrossman• 15 years ago

People go into business with their parents all the time. If I could convince my father to go into business with me, we'd kill it... no matter how good I am at dev stuff, his 30 years experience in growing businesses would be way more valuable.

amorphid• 15 years ago

Impress us with a cool frikkin' product!

hugo31370• 15 years ago

Focus on what matters, age isn't probably the main concern. Maybe a 35yr gap affects the expectations that each founder has in terms of dedication and outcome, but shouldn't you be talking about it anyway independently of the age gap?

My advice is to focus on what matters and forget about age. Is it a good personal fit? Do you have fun working together? Do you have the same expectations? Can you agree on equity share? Do both founders add value?

In brief, just make sure you can be good partners.

iworkforthem• 15 years ago

I agree... it is the drive and will to get things done.

I am 34 yrs old, I definitely have more to lose when I compare myself to a fresh graduate who have less commitments than me, I have to make things work. So if my co-founder is just as driven as me to succeed. WHY NOT? :)

jrubinovitz• 15 years ago

What do I think? I don't know what to think, I cannot base my thoughts on a start up on an knowledge of a 35 year age gap alone. Ergo, if you're asking if it matters, I do not think it does. It could even be advantageous to have the different views of two different age groups.

leslyn• 15 years ago

There are three of us and we span three generations in terms of age. The age doesn't 'matter as much as the motivation and drive to succeed as has been said. The younger ones have the tech savvy, the older ones accumulated business acumen, I think there is a nice balance with that diversity of experience but then again, I am in the middle of it.

malandrew• 15 years ago

It depends. I started on my startup with my father (a startup founder in the 90s and a interim CEO for a failing startup. Neither were tech businesses) and the ~35 or so year gap proved to be a burden given the business model and culture I and my other co-founder wanted to establish. Tech startup business models and cultures can be very different from established business models and cultures. This can be very stressful if your older partner isn't psychologically ready to adapt their experience, because the truth is that they may have to be very flexible. Expectations became a huge source of conflict for use. If you want to discuss this personally, shoot me an email.

AznHisoka• 15 years ago

The older people can sometimes bring more experience to the table if he was in previous ventures and learned from his mistakes. He/she can tell you flaws you can't see.

Ask HN: What do you think of a startup with cofounders with a 35 year age gap?

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