I think you're getting downvoted for a few reasons.
1) The kind of startup you're espousing is generally not easy to implement and test, and also very hard to rapidly grow. As a result, it fails the typical "good startup idea" test that SV applies. It's also at odds with this lecture series so far.
2) "Stamina" in this case means being able to throw yourself into something and work stupid hours fueled by ramen and passion until it's built. It tends to be a lot easier to do this when you're younger than it is later in life. The flip-side is that the "35 year-old entrepreneurs" you refer to are often able to work more steadily toward goals, but again this isn't what SV looks for in hyper-growth startups eyeing a fast exit.
3) "Distraction-free" refers to being able to focus solely on your startup without having to split time with a family, or worry about making mortgage payments, or most importantly, being afraid of failing. When you're young it's easy to take a hit and start over. When you're older and have large responsibilities it's a lot more difficult.
Also to your earlier point, if your target market is HNIs, you're probably not in the startup business because that's a very small number of people to sell to. Please note that I don't disagree with you and think this is a valuable add to the discussion, but it's important to distinguish between the types of small businesses you're referring to and the types of startups that Ycom wants.
> The kind of startup you're espousing is generally not easy to implement and test, and also very hard to rapidly grow.
How is talking to potential customers before you invest time implementing and worrying about growth "not easy"? It's the definition of easy.
> "Stamina" in this case means being able to throw yourself into something and work stupid hours fueled by ramen and passion until it's built. It tends to be a lot easier to do this when you're younger than it is later in life. The flip-side is that the "35 year-old entrepreneurs" you refer to are often able to work more steadily toward goals, but again this isn't what SV looks for in hyper-growth startups eyeing a fast exit.
My post above refers to a study that looked at hundreds of founders of successful tech companies. If you believe that eating ramen and working "stupid" hours improves one's odds of success, and that 20-somethings are most capable of living this lifestyle, why did the study find twice as many successful founders older than the age of 50 as it found successful founders younger than 25?
> "Distraction-free" refers to being able to focus solely on your startup without having to split time with a family, or worry about making mortgage payments, or most importantly, being afraid of failing.
Again, if you look at the study I referred to, and look at the demographics of the millions of millionaires in this country who are business owners, it becomes really difficult to keep repeating the argument that older entrepreneurs have too many distractions. This notion is simply not supported by the numbers.
> ...but it's important to distinguish between the types of small businesses you're referring to and the types of startups that Ycom wants.
How you go about building your business can determine what happens to your business. There are a good number of YCombinator companies that will never be billion-dollar companies but could have been highly-profitable small businesses if their founders didn't buy into the high-growth hype, apparently not recognizing that YCombinator's portfolio has a power law distribution not dissimilar to just about any venture fund.
As for "small business", it gets treated like a four letter word around here but ironically a lot of the people who have been convinced that owning a "small business" is the second worst thing in the world have never seen a bank account balance with more than a single comma in it.
1) The kind of startup you're espousing is generally not easy to implement and test, and also very hard to rapidly grow. As a result, it fails the typical "good startup idea" test that SV applies. It's also at odds with this lecture series so far.
2) "Stamina" in this case means being able to throw yourself into something and work stupid hours fueled by ramen and passion until it's built. It tends to be a lot easier to do this when you're younger than it is later in life. The flip-side is that the "35 year-old entrepreneurs" you refer to are often able to work more steadily toward goals, but again this isn't what SV looks for in hyper-growth startups eyeing a fast exit.
3) "Distraction-free" refers to being able to focus solely on your startup without having to split time with a family, or worry about making mortgage payments, or most importantly, being afraid of failing. When you're young it's easy to take a hit and start over. When you're older and have large responsibilities it's a lot more difficult.
Also to your earlier point, if your target market is HNIs, you're probably not in the startup business because that's a very small number of people to sell to. Please note that I don't disagree with you and think this is a valuable add to the discussion, but it's important to distinguish between the types of small businesses you're referring to and the types of startups that Ycom wants.