What is the right age or experience level to start a startup?
I finished my PhD in Computer Science in 2021 and started working as an engineer in tech. I'm starting to build projects at my company more independently and doing some system design for my projects at the company. I'm 29 years old now. My eventual goal is to build a successful startup. I try to read some business books after work to improve my understanding business in general.
I'm worried that if I start the startup too late, then it might be hard to manage with family. But if I start too early, I don't have a strong enough financial base and experience to build large projects. What would be a good age and experience level to start a startup in general? Should I wait until I am a few years into an L5 role? Or should I aim to reach L6 role before starting a startup? What side projects should I do or experience I should gain now while still working to better equip myself to be a founder?
![Mid-Level Software Engineer [SDE 2] at Amazon company logo](/_next/image/?url=https%3A%2F%2Ffirebasestorage.googleapis.com%2Fv0%2Fb%2Ftech-career-growth.appspot.com%2Fo%2Fcompany_logos%252Famazon_logo.jpg%3Falt%3Dmedia%26token%3Dff5f2302-08be-43bc-b7b1-d381ba508d99&w=48&q=75){kind=logo}
Discussion
(2 comments)- 22 months agoTech Lead/Manager at Meta, Pinterest, Kosei
Don't wait until you're ready -- you never will be!
I'd start a startup almost entirely based on when the timing works out with a compelling cofounder. What are the most important skills to be a successful founder?
I think I waited a bit too long to start a startup, unfortunately. If I could do it over, I'd probably tell myself to start sooner.
- 12 months agoEntry-Level Software Engineer at Seed Startup
It seems like you're wondering what creating a startup will be like.
Here's a quick way to see what it's like, without quitting your job and making your partner angry:
Just go live a day in the life with a startup founder (preferably several to get a representative view).
If you work remote 1-2 days a week, you can go to an AI event or hackathon and look for startup founders to cowork with. Then you can pick their brain over lunch/dinner after coworking at a cafe or something. (they might even invite you to a founder hotbed like SHACK15, which has even more founders)
Early stage founders tend to have much more insight into things like:
- what the funding climate is actually like in your region
- how to deal with the stress of being an early stage founder
- hiring the first few people, etc
This is important because in 2024, the ground truth and what mainstream news reports about tech diverges significantly at times.
Anyway, hope this helps. I haven't started a startup yet, but it gives me peace to at least know what I'd be signing up for if I did.
