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Comment by simonebrunozzi | Hacker News Reader

I actually disagree with PG on this one.

Yes, younger founders are low maintenance, but older founders usually have a large network to tap into for fundraising.

it's not apples to apples. Older founders usually have a network they can tap into, yes, but also usually have a lifestyle that requires a bit more than the average college grad. One thing I've told folks who ask "how do I start a startup with little money?" "You start with what you got". Sometimes selling things off to reduce your expenses to be able to give your startup more runway. Or not take any money at all (I met with a pair that did this for almost 2 years!).

In the end, it's all situational. Younger founders are lower maintenance to the balance sheets and have more potential but it's more risk. I'm not a VC so I couldn't say what goes into the decision making there other than "he's younger and smarter so I'm betting on this horse".

>> but also usually have a lifestyle that requires a bit more than the average college grad

I've noticed that an entire generation of essentially 0% interest rates has skewed this substantially. I'm in my 40's and I've scrimped and saved and have very few "premium lifestyle tastes", while many 20-somethings have lived well beyond their means financed for free their entire lives. Their expectation for the baseline standard is much higher than 15-20 years ago

I think that founders have become older since 2006.

There are a lot of people work for a big company for a while, or go into an industry, then go to a start up.

I don't have any data to show this is true, but I suspect that it is.

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