First off, congratulations. This is quite the accomplishment for anyone of any age.
I started a niche B2B SaaS company with a co-founder when I was 23 (www.gingrapp.com). We sold it off when I was 27 and I stuck around for 2 years after acquisition. By the time I left there were 30+ employees and 8-digit ARR.
I’m currently 30, married with a toddler and semi-retired. The last 10 years of my life have been absolutely nuts and like you I wish I had someone who’d been through it before to talk to. It can be hard to relate with others as a founder. A frequent refrain I encountered when trying to talk with friends/family was that I had “first-world” problems that weren’t worth talking about. Ugh.
First off, I don’t think age matters per se. I’ve known founders in their 40s and 50s to flounder just as often as founders in their 20s, just usually in different ways.
The first piece of advice I’d give is that this whole experience will be a roller coaster and you can’t always control what happens next. It helped me to remember that I’m but a passenger on this journey.
I think I’d have a lot more to share with you privately. If you ever want to chat, my email is in my bio. Would be happy to talk further.
Wow, 8-digit ARR from that niche is pretty amazing to me. The power of specialisation I suppose, but it does make me question what the "right" size of market to go after is to not spend a life chasing the dragon.
Comments
First off, congratulations. This is quite the accomplishment for anyone of any age.
I started a niche B2B SaaS company with a co-founder when I was 23 (www.gingrapp.com). We sold it off when I was 27 and I stuck around for 2 years after acquisition. By the time I left there were 30+ employees and 8-digit ARR.
I’m currently 30, married with a toddler and semi-retired. The last 10 years of my life have been absolutely nuts and like you I wish I had someone who’d been through it before to talk to. It can be hard to relate with others as a founder. A frequent refrain I encountered when trying to talk with friends/family was that I had “first-world” problems that weren’t worth talking about. Ugh.
First off, I don’t think age matters per se. I’ve known founders in their 40s and 50s to flounder just as often as founders in their 20s, just usually in different ways.
The first piece of advice I’d give is that this whole experience will be a roller coaster and you can’t always control what happens next. It helped me to remember that I’m but a passenger on this journey.
I think I’d have a lot more to share with you privately. If you ever want to chat, my email is in my bio. Would be happy to talk further.
Isn't this somewhat true from their perspective? They have just as much difficulty relating the other way
Wow, 8-digit ARR from that niche is pretty amazing to me. The power of specialisation I suppose, but it does make me question what the "right" size of market to go after is to not spend a life chasing the dragon.
Retired at 30. Well done good sir.