Why your startup idea is still worth testing even if you’re over 35 and with a mortgage

By the age of 35, most entrepreneurs have experienced both successes and failures. They know how to make decisions and take responsibility for them, which can lead to the lack of flexibility. For example, starting a family means ensuring a certain level of comfort for their loved ones. This often leads to increased financial obligations, like a mortgage, and a shift toward more stable employment, since in such situations, stability is often more appealing than the freedom and financial risks that come with it.

These people have a clear set of values. They understand the real value of money and the importance of punctuality and keeping promises. They have not only professional experience but also life experience, which can’t be substituted with anything else. This experience comes from personal and professional wins and losses, making them more stress-tolerant.

However, all these great qualities often benefit employers, while the entrepreneurial spirit of those who are employed is sacrificed for social and personal obligations. We believe that a little support can help these people bring to life the ideas they’ve put aside for quite some time. This benefits everyone: the innovation industry gains mature players with a strong sense of responsibility, punctuality, pragmatism, life experience, and respect for resources. Users will get products that meet their real needs, and we, as their co-founders, take on all the entrepreneurial risk.

If founders over 35 are so great and it’s so profitable and convenient to work with them, why doesn’t the whole world invest only in their ideas? ? Well, firstly, the downside of their experience is a trust crisis. They know that the only free cheese is in the mousetrap and tend to be cautious — sometimes too cautious.

Secondly, they highly value their stability and are unwilling to take risks, partly to avoid letting down those who depend on them and partly to protect themselves from disappointment.

Thirdly, their routine responsibilities take up most of their time, and getting their attention requires real effort.

Despite the common belief that successful startup founders are in their 20s, data shows that many founders of billion-dollar companies are actually over 35. The average age of successful founders is around 43, and 45 for unicorn startups. For example, Eric Yuan, the founder of Zoom, was 41 when he started the company, and Reed Hastings co-founded Netflix at 37.

Research shows that founders over 35 are more likely to succeed than their younger counterparts, thanks to their established careers, industry knowledge, larger professional networks and social connections, and better access to capital investments. Founders over 50 are nearly twice as likely to succeed compared to those who are a bit over 30.

For those considering becoming an entrepreneur later in life, this data proves that age and experience can be key advantages in building a successful startup.

We’re interested in those who aren’t overly cautious — those who would like to shift from being employed by someone to running their own business, but aren’t ready to rip money from their families. Perhaps they have some long-term financial obligations, like a mortgage, or don’t have significant savings that would allow them to make another attempt. Maybe they have some savings, but it’s only enough to ensure they can meet their commitments for a while until they find their next stable source of income. It’s also possible that they’ve had a dramatic business experience, like failing to attract investors for their project. But if the idea still lives in their heart and they have the energy to try again, we are here for them. Of course, we’re also interested in those who can contribute to the product themselves — engineers with an entrepreneurial streak.

That’s why we write blog posts like this one and organize Launch Camps that allow participants to test their hypotheses and get early feedback on their projects. In our last Launch Camp (July–August 2024), 458 people from 279 teams took part. 17 teams made it to the final stage, and 14 teams pitched their projects. 6 teams received offers from us.

Here’s an example of what participants said in the camp group chat:

So, what does an offer from SKL.vc mean? It means that over the course of 1.5 months after the Launch Camp, we help you test the hypothesis that passed through all camp’s stages. We provide up to $4,000 for marketing, as well as access to our resources, including analysts, marketers and developers. You spend the remaining $3,000 on buying your own time to work on this. We want to highlight that you face no business risk, but if the project is still just an idea or a prototype without a client base or sales after 1.5 months we will take 95% of the future company.

You might think this sounds extreme, but we believe it’s fair because we take on all the entrepreneurial risks, saving you the time and effort of searching for investments, which often result in an initial share without any profit. By the way, with us, your share can grow to 10%, but we’ll talk about that after our project with your involvement, makes its first million.

Each month, we invest at least $60,000 in idea testing from people over 35 who, for various reasons, can’t live the typical startup founder’s life — spending at least a year testing hypotheses, negotiating with investors and pulling money from their families instead of bringing it in. After all, venture investors usually prefer to fund projects that are already making money, while early-stage projects are often funded by the “3Fs”: Family, Friends and Fools.

We make innovation accessible to everyone by giving people the chance to realize their ideas when they wouldn’t dare to otherwise. We save them from worrying about money and allow them to “buy” a little time to test their hypotheses. We also provide in-house expertise from analysts, marketers, developers and product managers. If the hypothesis proves successful, we’re ready to invest up to $80,000 to create an MVP. And if the project matures, we’ll invest another $250,000 in its development and promotion.

We’re willing to host 4 Launch Camps a year (these are like hackathons on steroids, allowing founders to test the viability of their ideas) — that’s how strongly we believe in the potential of founders over 35 with engineering or entrepreneurial backgrounds. Additionally, we’ll invest around $4 million annually in the projects they bring to us.

Yes, we take a 95% share, but we do what no one else does — create ideal conditions for amazing people, helping them to merge startup life with family, mortgages and even pets.

Why are we telling you all this? First, to spark a bit of discussion. People might ask, “Is it even fair since it’s not our idea?” And we’ll respond… well, you’ll see in the comments.

Secondly, we want to encourage founders over 35 and let them know it’s not too late! There’s always another chance and another and another! In our “innovation sandbox,” you can test hypotheses repeatedly — not just your own, but also those developed within the studio.

And, as Steve Jobs used to say, “…one more thing”: applications for the fall Launch Camp are now open. If you recognize yourself in this blog post, it’s worth checking out the details and the program.