There's an uncanny element to the writing here, but my bigger thing is that it's presenting a sort linear progression to stages of life and startup operating, and saying 36-42 are strong ages for doing startup work, but 42 is the last of those years and 51 is past it: no? An unsupported claim? There are ways in which it is much harder to do a startup at 36 than 51.
It seems clear why 20-somethings have advantages, but extrapolating that out is I think a mistake.
I also think subheds like "Naive Conviction" and "Capitalized Execution" and "Durable Craft" are going to set people off, and as a bit of writing advice I'd avoid them, along with constructions like "It's not X. It's Y." or "X isn't Z. Y is." It's also kind of not-great writing? It starts to sound like something written for Bill Shatner to read.
teekert•1mo ago
Hmm, yes seems a bit one-sided. At 30 life was distinctly family oriented, now mid forty there is a lot more room again, I suspect there will be even more room at 55. I myself was kinda clueless 18-30.
I work a lot for/with a couple of retirees (pensionados?) with a startup in drug repurposing: Huge network, crazy deep knowledge, authority, no need for a salary so they have very low cost. Basically I line up high quality information for them and built infra as needed. They move quite quickly tbh.
clickety_clack•1mo ago
It reads like someone in their early 20s wrote it. There’s no way anyone who’s been around longer than that would think life progresses so definitely and neatly.
personjerry•1mo ago
I should've been more clear, I feel like at 51 a better leverage of impact is no longer the startup but writing (essays, blogs, books) or other forms of influence (e.g. teaching)
I appreciate the feedback on the writing!
akerl_•1mo ago
But why? What about being 51 vs younger means writing is “better leverage”.
personjerry•1mo ago
At 51 you don't have the energy and time to compete on "grinding" which is often the "advantage" in the early days of a startup before a moat has solidified
akerl_•1mo ago
Presumably at 60 the right move is to surrender one’s body for science, as you’ve passed all the milestones of usefulness.
tptacek•1mo ago
You appear from your published CV to be much, much younger than 51. I'm not 51, but I'm much closer to it than you are, and at an age where many people in my social circle at past that. What on earth gives you the confidence to say something like "at 51 you don't have the energy to compete"?
Also, at 51, you probably have more time to compete than a 36 year old.
I think you're way off on this.
kasey_junk•1mo ago
I certainly had much more time & energy for startup shenanigans in my mid 40s than I did in my mid 30s. But even with that experience I’d be very hesitant to extrapolate about any age because of how different everyone’s lives are.
akerl_•1mo ago
I don't want to speculate too wildly, but I think it may be possible that everybody's life and energy levels and motivation and interests are not tracked on the same fixed linear path.
Though I guess it would be nice as somebody in my 20s to picture that my future is an established track to follow.
Esophagus4•1mo ago
Or at the very least, to be able to say to yourself, “You’re doing fine. You’re beating yourself up because you haven’t started a company in your 20s, but that’s ok. Because you haven’t aged out of being a founder, and you can still do what drives you.”
wglb•1mo ago
I'm not convinced of the linearity of this. Consider that Ray Kroc started McDonalds when he was 50.
tptacek•1mo ago
It seems clear why 20-somethings have advantages, but extrapolating that out is I think a mistake.
I also think subheds like "Naive Conviction" and "Capitalized Execution" and "Durable Craft" are going to set people off, and as a bit of writing advice I'd avoid them, along with constructions like "It's not X. It's Y." or "X isn't Z. Y is." It's also kind of not-great writing? It starts to sound like something written for Bill Shatner to read.
teekert•1mo ago
I work a lot for/with a couple of retirees (pensionados?) with a startup in drug repurposing: Huge network, crazy deep knowledge, authority, no need for a salary so they have very low cost. Basically I line up high quality information for them and built infra as needed. They move quite quickly tbh.
clickety_clack•1mo ago
personjerry•1mo ago
I appreciate the feedback on the writing!
akerl_•1mo ago
personjerry•1mo ago
akerl_•1mo ago
tptacek•1mo ago
Also, at 51, you probably have more time to compete than a 36 year old.
I think you're way off on this.
kasey_junk•1mo ago
akerl_•1mo ago
Though I guess it would be nice as somebody in my 20s to picture that my future is an established track to follow.
Esophagus4•1mo ago