Earlier this year at a Web3 conference in Austin, I was speaking to a colleague. Things seemed to be going well until he asked me my age, and I told him. “26?” he responded. “Isn’t that a little young to be a CEO?”
The conversation instantly changed tone — I suddenly felt defensive. I worked hard to get where I’m at, so why is age even a factor?
The tech industry has a history of successful young CEOs. It’s celebrated, especially in Silicon Valley. Vitalik Buterin launched Ethereum when he was 21, the same age Steve Jobs was when he began leading Apple. Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg became CEOs at 19, and now Microsoft and Meta are among the largest companies in the world.
