Nov
20
2008

Age Doesn’t Matter!

I’ve heard over and over again throughout my life that I’m too young to start a company. I used to let it get to me, thinking maybe I couldn’t do this, but I’ve finally got to the point where I can say those people are completely ignorant and flat out wrong.

My advice, anyone that says you are too young to start a company, prove them wrong and start working on your business concept as soon as possible, they will be asking you for a job within a year. Then when they approach you for a job, tell them you don’t feel comfortable having someone so old working for you.

Here are three reasons why my age is an asset.

1) Energy - I can work 15 hour days, 7 days a week and still go out at night and party with the best of them. Throw in some Red Bull and caffeine pills and I’m going to get more done in a day then anyone twice my age could in an average workweek.

2) Lack of Commitments - I don’t have a family to support, a house mortgage or a 401K to protect, which means I can afford to take huge risks. When you really put yourself and your company out there, that’s when real innovation and value is created.

3) I’m Cool - Companies always want to be on the forefront of what is “cool” and who better to know what that is than teenagers and college students. Almost everything that is now “cool” started out with adoption by this demographic. In my company, we are always at the forefront of “cool” and we are constantly leaving the older aged management teams of our competitors, scratching their heads.

Unfortunately, the one thing young people lack is experience, and this can play a major role in regards to the success of a company. Don’t despair though; there are a lot of ways that young people can overcome this hurdle. A few of the things I’ve done are below.

- Set up an advisory board, and actually use them.

- Outsource the parts of the business you don’t understand. I’m horrible at math and usually the legal aspects of our company are usually way over my head. To compensate, I focused on what I do best and hired an accounting firm to handle our books and an attorney to guide me through some of the issues I didn’t feel comfortable handling myself.

- Reach out and ask for help. There are people within your community that want to help, you just need to ask for their help. If you are too proud to ask for help, don’t start your own company, it won’t work. I added up the amount of questions I’ve asked today and I’m up to 15… it’s only 2PM.

- You aren’t the first one to go through the challenges you are experiencing. Every hardship you run into with your company, I guarantee that someone else has gone through the same hardship and has most likely written about it, learn from their mistakes.

Viewing 7 Comments

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    • v
    Wow, thanks for encouraging young people to start their business and take an initiative. I am also working on the same plan n looking to achieve great goals in near future.
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    • v
    You have a point. But the thing is that they are always worrying that you have no basic experiences about it because you are still young. That is what they always say but I appreciate that you've manage to think of some solutions to do something about it. Great post by the way.
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    I'm right there with you on your 3 main points, and I completely agree with your suggestions. An advisory board is something I've worked on for a while, and outsourcing accounting and legal services is definitely the way to go when first starting out. Good post, and I love the blog.
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    The discussion on my share of this article on Facebook goes something like:

    DAN:
    He should wait a bit longer, get more experience, and then lie downward about his age. Tom Anderson did it, and there are still some people out there who think he is cool.

    ME:
    The train's already left the station for Derek, he can't say "Sorry, my bad, I'll go back to school" because their projections on unique eyeballs are really good, and doing something that noone is doing well. It's just time to ride the bull, perform brilliantly, and you don't bring up age... but keep something in the chamber in case someone does.

    That's a good point on Tom. I think the big takeaway is: white t-shirts never go out of style.
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    When it comes to the young, we rock! When the situation calls for wining and waltzing, though, the elders move smoother and more gracefully than when they started out at our age.
    I look forward to seeing many of your successes, Derek! And I will enjoy reading about them here.

    InJoy!
    j
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    • v
    I think after reading this, you need to rename this post. If "Age Doesn't Matter" then there would actually be no advantages to you being younger than many other company execs. There are also a couple of problems with your logic - On item 1, I _can_ work 15 hour days, 7 days a week just like you, even though I'm older. The difference is, I _choose_ not to - I've done it, and one day, like me and countless others, you'll probably realize why doing it is a bad idea. Also, on the caffeine pills - seriously, don't overdo it. I've actually had a friend end up in the hospital from scarfing down too many of those in too short a time - it's serious stuff.

    On item 2, I've worked enough that I have backup emergency plans, insurance, and funds in place so I can actually afford (financially) to take huge risks and often do. We're both at a point where we can afford, in different ways, to do this - and so are a lot of other people who are probably older than you.

    Item 3 I'll grant you - cool is the providence of the young... except many people who are uber-cool are actually old, but they've been cool a long time. You won't convince many people that Jack Nicholson isn't cool (he's 71), or Steve Jobs (he's 53), or (for the truly geeky) Woz (he's 58).

    You have some valid points about why it's not a detriment that you're young, though - and good thoughts concerning turning over certain aspects of your company for other people to handle, but those are good suggestions for anyone running a company at any age.
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    • v
    Age does matter is right. As long as you are commited to anything, you will succeed.
 

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