As a VC and simply being in the startup ecosystem, I have the good fortune of encountering a number of people just beginning down an entrepeneurial career path. Sometimes these are older, more experienced professionals who are moving from a career in “big” companies to the startup world. A lot of the time it’s relatively young professionals not too far out of undergrad, or even still in college.

I see a lot of folks in the latter group setting out to start a company themselves, which I certainly applaud. A portion of them are really exceptional individuals, have conceived and thoroughly thought through a good company concept, are super passionate about what they’re doing, are fully prepared for the risks and tribulations of starting a company, and are extremely self-aware of both their strengths and limitations. Overall these folks are doing the right thing in trying to start a company essentially at the beginning of their professional life. There have been great role models like Mark Zuckerberg, Michael Dell, and Bill Gates over the years of young entrepreneurs who are truly exceptional and have massive success right out of the gates.

Unfortunately a good many of these young would-be entrepreneurs may not be terribly well suited or likely to succeed as founders. This isn’t a criticism or a shortcoming in any way. When I came out of undergrad I knew I wanted to be involved in startups at the outset of my career. But I certainly didn’t have a well-conceived company concept that I was super passionate about. I probably couldn’t have articulated it well at the time, but I intuitively knew that there was a whole lot of stuff I didn’t understand or have first hand experience with regarding startups or even the general professional world.

So I joined an existing startup in PayPal. I’m not suggesting that every entrepreneurially minded college grad should follow the same path I did in joining an existing startup. For some the right thing to do might be to start a company themselves. For others it might be to pursue a non-startup career path for awhile or graduate studies, and try to return to their entrepreneurial ambitions later. That seemed to work out ok for Larry & Sergey.

But my point for budding entrepreneurs is this:

It’s true that startup equity ownership is unequally distributed over both time and seniority. The earlier one becomes involved with a startup, the greater the ownership which reflects both the increased risk associated with joining a company at an earlier stage but also the increased impact early members of a startup team typically have on its ultimate outcome. A similar relationship exists in terms of how senior a person’s role is, regardless of the stage at which they join.

But it’s equally true that startups are a professional sphere where comparatively young and inexperienced people can have impact disproportionate to age, a rapid career ascent for those that prove themselves, and an ever changing landscape of career opportunity. And being part of a great startup learning experience, whether success or failure, can only improve an entrepreneur’s ability to start something on their own as a founder/co-founder someday.

So all those would-be young founders out there… look in the mirror and ask if you have all the things it takes to be a successful founder. If so, awesome. Good luck and let me know how I can help. But for all those who may not be sure that’s the right first step on the career path, it’s not the only approach. Go be an entrepreneur today, there’s almost always time to be a founder tomorrow.