{"id":22248,"date":"2015-03-26T05:00:01","date_gmt":"2015-03-26T12:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/creativemarket.com\/blog\/?p=22248"},"modified":"2024-04-03T05:50:02","modified_gmt":"2024-04-03T12:50:02","slug":"why-its-not-too-late-5-successful-startup-founders-over-30","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/creativemarket.com\/blog\/why-its-not-too-late-5-successful-startup-founders-over-30","title":{"rendered":"Why It&#039;s Not Too Late: 5 Successful Startup Founders Over 30"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It is never too late. While the tech industry seems to be dominated by young entrepreneurs, there are plenty of middle-aged people who are making waves in the online marketplace. In fact, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kauffman.org\/what-we-do\/research\/2010\/05\/the-anatomy-of-an-entrepreneur\">a study by The Kauffman Foundation<\/a> found that the typical successful founder was 40 years old. Here are five successes who founded their tech startups after 30.\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Jenna_Bilotta\"><\/span>Jenna Bilotta<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2><h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Co-Founder_of_Avocado\"><\/span>Co-Founder of <a href=\"https:\/\/avocado.io\">Avocado<\/a><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3><p>\nAvocado is an app for what some call the smallest social network. It has private chat, photo sharing, calendars and lists just between significant others. Jenna was one of the lead designers of Google Reader, so it&#8217;s a wonder that she and her partner didn&#8217;t stay with arguably the biggest tech company today.\nJenna thinks that it can be better for an idea to create its own path to success than to try to go through a company that while successful, may not care for the idea as much as the creator does.\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/d3ui957tjb5bqd.cloudfront.net\/uploads\/2015\/03\/03053014\/over-30-6.jpg.webp\" alt=\"over-30-4\" width=\"580\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-22258\">\n<\/p><h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Reid_Hoffman\"><\/span>Reid Hoffman<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2><h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Co-Founder_of_LinkedIn_and_PayPal\"><\/span>Co-Founder of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/\">LinkedIn<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.paypal.com\">PayPal<\/a><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3><p>\nReid Hoffman was well into his thirties before he went on to co-found two of the biggest names in tech today. PayPal is a staple in the online marketplace, and LinkedIn is the best way to utilize social media for career placement.\nOriginally, Reid wanted to change the world through philosophy, but he soon realized that academia was too small for his desires, so instead he focused on the intellectual side of online business. In his first book, The Start-up of You, he says that in our culture of connection &#8220;All of the attributes of a business now apply to an individual.&#8221;\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/d3ui957tjb5bqd.cloudfront.net\/uploads\/2015\/03\/03053017\/over-30-1.jpg.webp\" alt=\"over-30-1\" width=\"580\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-22252\">\n<em>Photo by <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Reid_Hoffman#\/media\/File:Reid_Hoffman_in_SF_2011.jpg\">Bbolkowy<\/a><\/em>\n<\/p><h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Adi_Tatarko\"><\/span>Adi Tatarko<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2><h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Co-Founder_of_Houzz\"><\/span>Co-Founder of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.houzz.com\">Houzz<\/a><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3><p>\nAdi took a little bit of Pinterest, LinkedIn and Amazon and rolled them into one great online shop focusing on home design. Houzz offers a place to browse for browse design ideas, connect with contractors and interior designers, and shop luxurious furniture and other home products all in one place.\nAdi came from barely being able to afford a plane ticket to a combined net worth of almost $500 million. Adi and her husband found a surprising need for housing help in the usually over-saturated online market while shopping for a home themselves. Through Houzz, they provide a forum for interior designers, architects and contractors who are looking for their place.\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/d3ui957tjb5bqd.cloudfront.net\/uploads\/2015\/03\/03053021\/over-30-3.jpg.webp\" alt=\"over-30-2\" width=\"580\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-22254\">\n<\/p><h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Jocelyn_Leavitt\"><\/span>Jocelyn Leavitt<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2><h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Co-Founder_of_Hopscotch\"><\/span>Co-Founder of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gethopscotch.com\">Hopscotch<\/a><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3><p>\nBecause of Jocelyn Leavitt, kids are learning to code faster than ever before. Her app, Hopscotch, helps users learn the basic logic behind computer programming in a fun way that doesn&#8217;t require memorizing codes or even typing. Kids, and curious adults, simply use drag-and-drop commands.\nShe found success by getting work done reasonably and on time. Instead of waiting for others to break ground on that amazing idea, Leavitt thinks it&#8217;s best to just start working on projects and hopefully come up with something along the way.\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/d3ui957tjb5bqd.cloudfront.net\/uploads\/2015\/03\/03053026\/over-30-4.jpg.webp\" alt=\"over-30-4\" width=\"580\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-22258\">\n<em>Photo credit: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.levo.com\/articles\/career-advice\/beyond-the-pencil-skirt-jocelyn-leavit\">Levo.com<\/a><\/em>\n<\/p><h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Thea_Runyan\"><\/span>Thea Runyan<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2><h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Co-Founder_of_Kurbo_Health\"><\/span>Co-Founder of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kurbo.com\">Kurbo Health<\/a><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3><p>\nHealthy habits of children become the healthy habits of adults, and Kurbo Health is making healthy kids its mission. It uses a simple stoplight system to help kids make healthy food choices while providing additional one-on-one support from health coaches.\nThea believes in her app&#8217;s ability to make a difference. Her passion for healthy kids and her years of experience as a childhood weight-loss expert led her to create an app that gave fair access to kids in a market where children&#8217;s health programs were expensive and time consuming.\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/d3ui957tjb5bqd.cloudfront.net\/uploads\/2015\/03\/03053030\/over-30-5.jpg.webp\" alt=\"over-30-4\" width=\"580\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-22258\">\n<\/p><h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Start_Your_Legacy_Today\"><\/span>Start Your Legacy Today<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2><p>\nHopefully, reading some advice from these five successes will inspire someone on their own path toward starting a company after their twenties have passed. It may feel intimidating to compete with a younger, more tech-savvy generation, but with age comes wisdom and experience that gives those in their 30s and 40s an edge over the younger crowd.\n<\/p><hr><p><strong>Products Seen In This Post:<\/strong><\/p><p>    <figure id=\"card-87704-172681799\" class=\"product-card half no-pinit\" data-product-id=\"87704\" data-index=\"0\" data-width=\"half\" data-pin_it=\"no-pinit\" data-module=\"Product Embed\" data-block-id=\"172681799\"><\/figure>\n    \n    <figure id=\"card-42847-475892987\" class=\"product-card half no-pinit\" data-product-id=\"42847\" data-index=\"0\" data-width=\"half\" data-pin_it=\"no-pinit\" data-module=\"Product Embed\" data-block-id=\"475892987\"><\/figure>\n    \n    <figure id=\"card-15826-603565308\" class=\"product-card half no-pinit\" data-product-id=\"15826\" data-index=\"0\" data-width=\"half\" data-pin_it=\"no-pinit\" data-module=\"Product Embed\" data-block-id=\"603565308\"><\/figure>\n    \n<\/p><hr><a href=\"https:\/\/creativemarketsurvey.wufoo.com\/forms\/write-for-the-creative-market-blog\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/d3ui957tjb5bqd.cloudfront.net\/uploads\/2015\/03\/03042736\/getpaidtowrite-banner.jpg.webp\" alt=\"getpaidtowrite-banner\" width=\"680\" height=\"100\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-21358\"><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It is never too late. While the tech industry seems to be dominated by young entrepreneurs, there are plenty of middle-aged people who are making waves in the online marketplace. In fact, a study by The Kauffman Foundation found that the typical successful founder was 40 years old. Here are five successes who founded their [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[47],"topics":[],"class_list":["post-22248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-creative-inspiration","tag-business"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.4 (Yoast SEO v28.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Why It&#039;s Not Too Late: 5 Successful Startup Founders Over 30 - Creative Market Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/creativemarket.com\/blog\/why-its-not-too-late-5-successful-startup-founders-over-30\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why It&#039;s Not Too Late: 5 Successful Startup Founders Over 30\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It is never too late. While the tech industry seems to be dominated by young entrepreneurs, there are plenty of middle-aged people who are making waves in\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/creativemarket.com\/blog\/why-its-not-too-late-5-successful-startup-founders-over-30\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Creative Market Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/crtvmrkt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-03-26T12:00:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-04-03T12:50:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d3ui957tjb5bqd.cloudfront.net\/uploads\/2015\/03\/03053014\/over-30-6.jpg.webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Creative Market\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@creativemarket\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@creativemarket\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Creative Market\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativemarket.com\\\/blog\\\/why-its-not-too-late-5-successful-startup-founders-over-30\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativemarket.com\\\/blog\\\/why-its-not-too-late-5-successful-startup-founders-over-30\",\"name\":\"Why It&#039;s Not Too Late: 5 Successful Startup Founders Over 30 - Creative Market Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativemarket.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativemarket.com\\\/blog\\\/why-its-not-too-late-5-successful-startup-founders-over-30#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativemarket.com\\\/blog\\\/why-its-not-too-late-5-successful-startup-founders-over-30#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3ui957tjb5bqd.cloudfront.net\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/03053014\\\/over-30-6.jpg.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-03-26T12:00:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-04-03T12:50:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativemarket.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d6927fab89f28e3dd8f6bb7b36219d66\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativemarket.com\\\/blog\\\/why-its-not-too-late-5-successful-startup-founders-over-30#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/creativemarket.com\\\/blog\\\/why-its-not-too-late-5-successful-startup-founders-over-30\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativemarket.com\\\/blog\\\/why-its-not-too-late-5-successful-startup-founders-over-30#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3ui957tjb5bqd.cloudfront.net\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/03053014\\\/over-30-6.jpg.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/d3ui957tjb5bqd.cloudfront.net\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/03053014\\\/over-30-6.jpg.webp\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativemarket.com\\\/blog\\\/why-its-not-too-late-5-successful-startup-founders-over-30#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativemarket.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Why It&#039;s Not Too Late: 5 Successful Startup Founders Over 30\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativemarket.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativemarket.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Creative Market Blog\",\"description\":\"Creative Market Blog\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/creativemarket.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why It&#039;s Not Too Late: 5 Successful Startup Founders Over 30 - Creative Market Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/creativemarket.com\/blog\/why-its-not-too-late-5-successful-startup-founders-over-30","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why It&#039;s Not Too Late: 5 Successful Startup Founders Over 30","og_description":"It is never too late. 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