There’s no shortage of headlines these days about millennials like Spiegal, in hoodies, making millions in Silicon Valley. Yet — fortunately for the rest of us — data also shows that there’s a strong correlation with older age and success as an entrepreneur. For example, Jan Koum was 33 and Brian Acton was 38 when they founded WhatsApp. Both men, like me, had spent most of their twenties as salaried employees of large companies before launching their own company (the hugely successful messaging app that sold to Facebook for $19 billion).
I founded my first company, Project Bly, last year at 35 — 13 years after my first engineering gig. Unlike Spiegal, I had over a decade of work and life experiences before I went out on my own. After working at as an engineer for a year, I pursued a more traditional career path and did what a lot of smart, ambitious twenty-somethings not starting companies do: I applied to law school. After graduating, I learned the ins and outs of corporate law at a big firm in Silicon Valley and eventually became general counsel at a clean technology company.
I spent almost seven years lawyering, and while I worked hard and did well, I rarely woke up excited to go to work. As I approached 35, the realization that how I spend my days is how I will spend my life hit me. I wanted to stop living in anticipation of more fulfilling, happier days, but wasn’t sure if I could step off a carefully laid career path to chase a dream. The answer I needed came during a trip to India, where I spent hours exploring the city’s chaotic and vibrant street markets.