06 · Section

Ages at founding

The myth says start young. The data says it depends. Here's where this set of founders actually were when they began the thing they became famous for.

41 entries
Teens
41519
Twenties
172029
Thirties
143039
Forties+
64055
Ingvar Kamprad/IKEA
John Collison/StripeBill Gates/MicrosoftMark Zuckerberg/Facebook
Patrick Collison/StripeSteve Jobs/Apple
Walt Disney/Disney Bros.
Daniel Ek/Spotify
Drew Houston/DropboxTobi Lütke/ShopifyPhil Knight/Blue Ribbon Sports
Whitney Wolfe Herd/BumbleAkio Morita/SonyLarry Page/Google
Brian Chesky/Airbnb
Sara Blakely/SpanxKevin Systrom/InstagramPony Ma/Tencent
Pierre Omidyar/eBay
Jensen Huang/NvidiaJeff Bezos/Amazon
Stewart Butterfield/Flickr
Travis Kalanick/Uber
Anita Roddick/The Body ShopJan Koum/WhatsAppHoward Schultz/Il Giornale (→ Starbucks)
Jack Ma/AlibabaMarc Benioff/SalesforceArlan Hamilton/Backstage Capital
Reed Hastings/NetflixBrian Acton/WhatsApp
Estée Lauder/Estée Lauder Inc.
Stewart Butterfield/SlackHenry Ford/Ford Motor Co.
Soichiro Honda/Honda Motor Co.
Sam Walton/Walmart
James Dyson/Dyson Appliance
Ray Kroc/McDonald's Corp.

Age at founding - 15-55