Ask HN: Does your co-founder have to be the same age as you?

13 points by CSunday 16 years ago | 13 comments

I am currently looking for and seeking a technical co-founder for a new music start-up I am working on. It is basically a web app that integrates with social networks (ie: Facebook); Provide 'the' platform & tools for artists to reach a wider audience/fans; allow fans/users to 'directly' purchase DRM-free songs from artist(s) at a market-variable price; and finally, provide an economic incentive for users to share their music discovery with peers. There are so many other possibilities...

This year makes me 18 years old...An ideal cofounder for me would have to be no more than 2-3 years older than me, because most older people may not be very comfortable working side-to-side with someone of my age.

So, I ask...

What would be the ideal age difference between you and your co-founder(s)?

bootload 16 years ago |

"... I am currently looking for and seeking a technical co-founder for a new music start-up I am working on. ..."

Age isn't the problem here, understanding the problem domain is.

"... This year makes me 18 years old...An ideal co-founder for me would have to be no more than 2-3 years older than me, because most older people may not be very comfortable working with side-to-side with someone of my age. ..."

I think the idea of a co-founder and age being incompatible has less to do with age than perceived and actual competence and power. Competence because it's difficult to work with idiots. Power, because an in-balance of power regardless of age turns working with anyone into a master/serf relationship.

petesalty 16 years ago |

I think it has a lot to do with lifestyle/attitude more than age. For example, I'm 40, but I don't have kids, nor a mortgage, nor any other major financial responsibilities. I do have a long term partner but she's also an entrepreneur working on her own businesses. I hate to get up early, like to play video games, work out regularly and like a good strong drink now and again. I have the lifestyle of a 20 year olod although I'm much more stable both financially and emotionally. Plus I have a lot of experience - what's not to like?

Don't let age/race/gender/ determine who you partner with, look for commitment, passion and energy - those are the things that are important.

pbhjpbhj 16 years ago | |

I have the lifestyle of a 20 year old

Sounds like the lifestyle of a 40+ yr old bachelor to me. You have a "long term partner" (presume you mean life-partner not business), you have low living costs, you have disposable income, these are not part of a normal 20-something lifestyle.

jacquesm 16 years ago |

I think what is more important than age is that your motivation for doing a startup is more or less similar.

This is usually easier to find in your own age-group, but it doesn't have to be.

Suppose you have a guy that 40, two kids, one in high school and a guy in his early 20's working together, you'll potentially get friction because both will have a completely different attitude towards the work (not saying in all case, but likely).

Whereas both would be in a roughly similar situation that would make it easier to understand the others point of view and such friction would be less likely to occur.

I've worked with people in a 20-50 age bracket and I found that it was sometimes very hard to explain to the older people that the younger ones were pulling their weight even though they weren't in the office at 9am, and to the younger ones that the older ones were pulling their weight even though they left at 5 pm... And that doesn't go in to issues like pulling rank because of age and so on.

It depends very much on the people involved. It is certainly possible to have a large 'age-gap' but it is not going to make things easier for the most part, especially not if the younger person is actually senior in the business over the older one.

JCThoughtscream 16 years ago |

Thoughtscream's crew ranges from 21 to nearly-30. Personality and chemistry matters more than an arbitrary age range, I think - though I suppose my statement's weakened by the fact that we are still all in our 20s.

pbhjpbhj 16 years ago | |

"21 to nearly-30", yet you speak as if that is a large age range. 16-70 would be a large age range. Clearly whatever Thoughtscream is it only associates younger people.

JCThoughtscream 16 years ago | | |

You'll notice that I acknowledge that an 8-9 year spread is admittedly a somewhat narrow range in which to back up my statement?

Now, do you think the statement, that personality and group chemistry outweighs age difference, should be refuted, or are you merely make a snark?

dabent 16 years ago |

I'm 43. If I thought you'd get the job done and we got along well, I'd work with you.

Note: I'm not currently seeking a co-founder.

smanek 16 years ago |

I'm 23, and my two co-founders are 27 and 31, respectively. It works because we bring different skills, points of view, etc to the table.

The biggest problem is money. I can live on 1500 a month but one of my co-founders has a mortgage, the other a kid, etc.

This means we have different timelines and requirements for success.

Slashed 16 years ago |

I'm 21. Currently, our startup is a two-person company. The age difference is like 13 years. I don't actually feel such a difference, as long as we can both work hard and achieve our goals, I think. :)

Mz 16 years ago |

I would assume that it's a lot like dating: If the age difference is An Issue between you and someone, then it's a problem and can be a show stopper. If it's not, it's not. In some cases, what you have in common in terms of lifestyle, interests and so on can overcome the difference in age. In other cases, those strengths just aren't there.

dnsworks 16 years ago |

What really matters is your ability to execute as a team. I was 24 when I started my last company with a co-fouder who was 31 at the time. We had completely different backgrounds, and polar views on the world, but we worked well together as a team. That's really all that matters.

Before my last company, I had been the youngest employee at every company I received a W2 from. Now I'm an old man at the age of 30 realizing that none of the engineers I've sat down with for dnsworks would have any recollection of the Challenger Explosion or the wall falling. Merely a sobering side note.