As the 20-year old founder of a startup company, what can I do to get older, more experienced people to take me seriously? [closed]

manpreet Best Answer 2 years ago

Edit: I am no longer the original user who made this post (hence the more recent questions I am asking are not related to this post).

I'm the founder of a growing IT company. I went to a university (only finished my first year and a half). I have 1 year of work experience (in an IT related field).

I started up an IT company and it's growing faster than expected.

With that said, I've got money to hire workers. The problem is, I'm only 20, and I'm interviewing / hiring workers up to twice my age and 10 times the work experience. I look like an 18 year old and my looks give away my age easily.

I fear that my own workers are not going to take me seriously because of my age and lack of work experience. I have a feeling that after hiring them, they might not like the fact that someone with 1 year of work experience is 'calling all the shots'. Will my age and lack of work experience make workers want to quit the job after the first month or so?

Am I worrying too much about the fact that I'm a young worker with not much work experience hiring a team of workers who are all older than me with a lot more work experience? Is there anything I can do to improve my situation or should I just continue as is and see what happens?

manpreet 2 years ago

am I worrying too much about the fact that I'm a 20 year old

No. It's an important thing, and you should be the one to try and get ahead of the issues it may cause. My second real job had a 19 year old CTO. It's not exactly uncommon.

I think that my age and lack of work experience will make workers want to quit the job after the first month or so.

This is pretty unlikely. They're far more likely to not take the job at all. The only way they leave that quickly is if they get into the job and find out you have no idea what you're doing and the company's prospects are bleak because of it.

I have a feeling that my own workers are not going to take me seriously because of my age and lack of work experience.

Some won't. Don't hire them. But quite a few people will treat you seriously if you are seriously skilled. The charisma, passion, and organizational skills needed by an entrepreneur will largely be there regardless of age.

I have a feeling that after hiring them, they might not like the fact that a 20-year old with 1 year of work experience is 'calling all the shots'.

One thing to be aware of, and may help with this: Don't call all the shots.

You can't do everything well, so get into the habit early of delegating things to others who are better than you at those things. People will trust you more if you show trust in others.