[sebandr]

I'm 52 - a real dinosaur, but I've been hooked on startups since the late 80s - and with few exceptions have never stopped. The drag for me is that when I was 30 they said I was too young - now I get the looks that I may be too old. All BS of course, because being a start up founder is all about commitment, risk, passion and flexibility. You have to have 1000% commitment not just for yourself but from your loved ones - if they're not on board with belt tightening and living off credit cards at times, with you working 18 hours a day - 7 days a week, with the inevitable ups and downs, high probability of failure and willing to hang in there in the bad moments ( because a great start up founder must maintain a positive and optimistic perspective to their team - translation: you're family will bear the brunt of pent up angst). Then this isn't for you. On the other hand, it's thrilling to be in the middle of a hot space, building your dream, exchanging ideas with bright people, understanding a market better than anyone else, most importantly the joy of learning new stuff and doing new stuff every day and of expanding your skills beyond what you thought you could do then do it. Notice I never mentioned money - if that's what you want, then stick with your job because it'll provide what you need. Jobs, Gates, Zuckerberg, etc, never ever mention that they do it for the money - it's never about the money.