Founder shares how launching his startup at 30 led to multiple wins: ‘I fell in love with the process’

Starting a startup later than most people can feel intimidating, especially in a space where many founders begin in their teens or early twenties.At first, Seraleev said he felt “in the wrong room” as most people around him were around 18 and just starting out. (@seraleev/X)One app developer recently shared how beginning his solo founder journey at the age of 30 initially made him feel out of place, but eventually helped him build several successful products and achieve impressive revenue milestones.In a post on X, the founder, Viktor Seraleev, based in Chile, reflected on how unusual it felt to start later than many others in the startup world.Also Read: Founder says flexibility helped him choose business over a 9-to-5 jobExperience turned into startup success:At first, Seraleev said he felt like he was “in the wrong room” because most people around him were around 18 and just starting out.However, he soon realised that age also came with certain advantages. Years of experience and the ability to recognise patterns helped him understand how different parts of an app business worked.“I quickly figured out how ads work, how to run experiments, how to design high-converting screenshots, and how to improve onboarding,” he adds.Seraleev also spent time improving user onboarding, a crucial step that helps new users understand and continue using an app. Rather than outsourcing tasks early, he chose to dive into every part of the business himself.According to him, curiosity played a big role in his journey. He constantly asked questions such as why certain strategies worked and whether they could be repeated.“I fell in love with the process. I manually dove into every part of the business,” the post adds.This hands-on approach eventually paid off. His first mobile app exit reportedly brought in about $410,000. Later projects continued to grow, with one reaching $46,000 in monthly recurring revenue and another generating around $49,000 a month.HT.com has reached out to the user for more details. This report will be updated when he responds.Also Read: Bengaluru founder reflects on 5 gruelling years of building coffee business in India: ‘It’s a long, lonely journey’Check out the post here:Here’s how people reacted to the post:X users quickly reacted to the post, with many saying that starting at 30 is not too late and that experience often becomes an advantage in building a business.One of the users commented, “Starting late has the added benefit of bringing various experiences and insights from other areas of life into this business. It can help a lot if employed well.”A second user commented, “It’s calming to read this as a 29-year-old. I started my Indie dev journey only a month ago.”A third user commented, “30 isn’t late, it’s actually perfect timing. You’ve got the patience to not panic when things don’t work immediately and enough career context to spot what actually matters vs what’s just noise.”“Starting at 35! I was feeling that I am late to the game looking at all the 18-year-olds in YC, thanks for posting,” another user commented.(Disclaimer: This report is based on user-generated content from social media. HT.com has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them.)