I’m going to be turning 25 this upcoming august. Yes, I’m getting old. Before you know it, I’ll be talking about rotary clubs, the 6 o’clock news, and regaling you with stories of my youth.

All joking aside, in the tech startup world, if you’re over 35, you’re considered a dinosaur. In the past few decades, the media has sensationalized young startup founders like Evan Spiegel, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and whizz kids who blow up seemingly over night.

When I first got interested in entrepreneurship, I was told by a slew of “advisors” and “experts” that you should really wait to start your company.

“Work for a few years, get some experience, then venture out on your own.”

Quite frankly, this is 100% bullshit.

In this post, I’ll share a few reasons why you should start a company today, not in a few years.

1. You have a fresh perspective on the world

This is a huge advantage over your older competitors, who already have a schema for the way business is done and what’s considered ludicrous and what’s acceptable.

Your lack of experience is actually an asset, because you’ll try things in an industry simply because you don’t know any better. A lot of the time, these will fail, but sometimes you’ll hit on a product, idea, or strategy that no one has tried, and it will pay off big time.

Since you haven’t been bombarded by the dogma of “this is why we do this,” you won’t have any archaic established rules in your head about a particular industry. You’ll be far more likely to get your clues for what does and doesn’t work from the actual customers, rather than from what others tell you about the customers.

2. You have little downside

The great thing about being young is that you have very few obligations, both financially and in terms of relationships and family life.

Pretty much, if you’re in college or high school, you’re just expected not to go to jail and to keep up your grades. After college, you’re just expected to earn an income (you can still start a business part-time), though oddly, it’s actually socially acceptable to stay home after graduating for a year or two because of the job climate.

You have no where to go but up! You can focus now in such a way that you won’t be able to ten years down the road, when you have a wife, kids, or a stable job that you’re afraid to leave.

Don’t take this for granted. It’s extremely hard later in life to leave a predictable pay check, your coworkers, and a cushy lifestyle. You’ll be trading it for ramen, no social life, and long days in front of your laptop.

Your low standards, work ethic, and lack of commitments are big assets.

3. You’ll learn more quickly, which is the name of the game.

For your first 1-2 years in business, rather than measuring your progress in terms of revenue, number of users, or income, it’s best to measure your accomplishments based on what you’ve learned about your customers and yourself.

Unfortunately, it takes time to learn about your target market, yourself, and business topics like marketing, accounting, and sales. You’re bound to make mistakes. It’s just either going to be when you’re young or when you’re older. If you get a jumpstart on this failing process, you’ll accumulate a wealth of knowledge that you can apply later.

The other reason that you’ll learn more quickly if you start a company at a younger age goes back to point #1. You’ll naturally try out more things. You don’t have as big of an ego or care what people think about you. After all, your friends are probably just going to school and partying. The more things you try, the more you’ll fail, and the more you’ll learn.

4. It’s easier to form relationships with mentors

If you’re under 25, older people don’t really look at you as an adult. While technically you are, it’s not how you appear in my experience.

We all want the admiration of our peers and I think that many of us want youngsters to look up to us or be proud of our accomplishments. We all want to be that “hero” that we fawn over when we’re young.

It’s going to be easy for you to develop a relationship with a mentor because to them, you’re a student!

Of course, you do have to stand out from all of the others students competing for their attention. You have to prove to them that you’re serious, willing to hustle and act on their advice, and that you genuinely admire them.

You must make it super easy for them to say yes and to make it as hassle free for them to impart advice to you, even if it’s just a monthly coffee meeting or phone call.

The goal here is to established a relationship with the mentor. Once they know, like, and trust you, they’ll be more willing to introduce you to people in their circle, which can help boost your chances of success.

I’m extremely grateful for all of the mentors that I’ve had throughout the years. They also just made the concept of entrepreneurship so much realer in my mind. It seems so much more attainable when you’re talking with someone who has succeeded and actually did what you want to do.

5. No one will take you seriously

The point I’m about to make might be a little Machiavellian, but it’s true.

You might think that if people don’t take you seriously, it’s a bad thing. Trust me, it’s not. It’s a blessing in disguise.

We all have walls up and project a certain image of ourselves to other people. When I was young (19) and went to networking events, I found that people were much more comfortable around me than than they are now.

Honestly, I might be trying to compete with someone or be wanting the inside scoop on how some industry works, and they would share all the information that I’d care to know with me! Of course, I told them of my intentions, but I was just a kid. Who’s going to take me or you seriously?

There was even a point in time where I approached my internship boss asking him for feedback on my software product and he himself suggested that they try it out in the office. This was a midsize company with decent revenue.

If I had tried to get a meeting as an older outside established business provider, it would be super hard. But, they didn’t really take my intentions seriously, so I got a bunch of data and real-world feedback.

6. Your barometer for success is much lower, which begets success. 

When I first starting making money with my own ventures, it felt magical. Let’s say you’re an 18 year old. You’re probably going to be going to school full time and you might have a part time job working 15 hours per week at $10 per hour. That’s $150/week of spending money or $600 per month, not taking taxes into account.

If you even managed to make $500 per month with your own venture, I can promise you that it would feel like you struck gold. Why? Because all of your friends are making a similar amount and they’re going to a job that they don’t like. You’re going to feel like a baller.

However, if you’re making that same amount at age 30 and most of your friends are banking $60-100k a year, it’s going to feel like you’re living in poverty.

Success is all relative in the grand scheme of things. There are probably millionaires out there who feel poor because they are comparing themselves to multi-millionares who are the same age. 

Even if you’re starting your business at 22, most of your friends are going to be earning $25-45k per year at their first job. You only have to hit $2k a month to be earning a full-time income from your venture AND be doing something that you love. Some people have to work a lifetime to do that.

The reason I point this out is because when you feel like you’re making progress, you’re going to work harder to make even more progress. That’s how you go from earning $500 a month with your venture to $5k a month or even $10k a month.

7. Your bullshit detector is going to get really good

Most entrepreneurs are bullshitters. They fake it. They go through the motions of starting a company or doing what they think you’re supposed to do to launch a tech startup. They are wantreprenuers. 

Maybe they put together a business plan, get an office, or even raise money. But there is a reason that the majority of businesses fail in the first year, and a vast majority in the next 5 years.

Entrepreneurship is a skill. You get good at assessing partners and employees. You learn what you’re good at and not so good at. You figure out what advice to pay attention to and what to ignore. You find out how to really discover what the customer wants.

You don’t need to know or be good at all of it. But, like knowing the law, you need to know when to consult others, or in this case, when to bring in outside knowledge, advice, resources, or partners.

Over time, you’re going to see how long it actually takes to build a technology product. You’re going to experience what it’s actually like to earn money with an online business. You’ll get the horrible feeling of failing time and time again, but still persisting.

Honestly, you can learn these lessons at any age, I think the earlier you learn them, the better.

Fine tuning your instincts early on is going to pay off in big ways further down the road. It could be knowing when to avoid doing business with certain people or when you should continue to pursue a vision, even if it doesn’t seem to be coming together in the present moment.

If I can leave you with one bit of advice, it would be that your success is going to be determined by the ACTIONS that you take. Not the ideas you come up with. Not the business plan you spend months putting together.

The earlier you start taking action, the more you will learn, which is the name of the game.

I REALLY hope this article inspired you to take action on your idea or business, particularly if you’re still in college or even younger. JUST DO IT! You can let me know about your idea in the comments below.