What should I have accomplished by 38?

See what remarkable builders and entrepreneurs achieved at age 38

Your Position

95th
percentile
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Ahead

Notable Achievements at Age 38

Rafael Nadal

Career totals at retirement: 92 ATP singles titles, 22 majors

Retired with 92 ATP Tour singles titles (63 on clay), 22 Grand Slam singles titles (record 14 French Opens), 36 Masters titles and two Olympic gold medals; 209 weeks at world No. 1, five year-end No.1 finishes.

2024
99% confidence
Source
Sam Altman

Fired from OpenAI CEO role by board

OpenAI board announced removal of Altman as CEO citing he 'was not consistently candid' with the board; Greg Brockman also removed from board.

2023
99% confidence
Source
Josh Kushner

Second child born (Elijah Jude)

Karlie Kloss and Joshua Kushner's second son was born in July 2023.

2023
99% confidence
Source
Elizabeth Holmes

Sentenced to 11.25 years in federal prison and restitution ordered

Judge Edward Davila sentenced Holmes to 11¼ years in federal prison and ordered her and Balwani to pay $452 million in restitution.

2022
99% confidence
Source
Dario Amodei

Co-founded Anthropic (CEO)

Founded Anthropic with his sister Daniela Amodei and multiple former OpenAI senior staff; mission: build reliable, interpretable, steerable AI systems.

2021
99% confidence
Source
Jacinda Ardern

Christchurch mosque terrorist attacks

A shooter attacked two mosques in Christchurch, killing 51 people; national tragedy thrust Ardern into international attention for her response.

2019
99% confidence
Source
Emmanuel Macron

Founded En Marche! movement

Launched a centrist, pro‑European political movement in Amiens on 6 April 2016 (later renamed La République En Marche! / Renaissance).

2016
99% confidence
Source
Dax Shepard

Married Kristen Bell

Shepard and Kristen Bell married at the Beverly Hills County Clerk's Office on October 17, 2013.

2013
99% confidence
Source
Dax Shepard

Birth of daughter Lincoln (first child)

Shepard and Kristen Bell welcomed their first daughter, Lincoln, on March 28, 2013.

2013
99% confidence
Source
Jeff Atwood

Co-founded Stack Overflow

In 2008 Atwood and Joel Spolsky founded Stack Overflow, a programming Q&A site that later became the core of the Stack Exchange network.

2008
99% confidence
Source
Sebastian Thrun

Stanley wins the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge

Led development of the autonomous vehicle 'Stanley', which won the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge; team members included Michael Montemerlo.

2005
99% confidence
Source
Martin Fowler

Co‑author & signatory: Agile Manifesto (Snowbird)

Participated in the Snowbird meeting and was one of the 17 signatories of the Manifesto for Agile Software Development.

2001
99% confidence
Source
Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Awarded PhD (University of Paris - Dauphine)

Received PhD in management science; dissertation 'The Microstructure of Dynamic Hedging' under Hélyette Geman, focused on mathematics of derivatives pricing.

1998
99% confidence
Source
Madonna

Birth of daughter Lourdes Maria Ciccone Leon

Madonna gave birth to Lourdes ('Lola') with fitness trainer Carlos Leon.

1996
99% confidence
Source
Mukesh Ambani

Birth of son Anant Ambani

Anant Ambani born on April 10, 1995.

1995
99% confidence
Source
Richard Stallman

Linus Torvalds releases Linux kernel (milestone for GNU/Linux)

Linux kernel released by Linus Torvalds in 1991 and combined with GNU components to form the common GNU/Linux operating system; sparked ongoing naming controversy.

1991
99% confidence
Source
Arnold Schwarzenegger

Married Maria Shriver

Married journalist Maria Owings Shriver (member of the Kennedy family).

1986
99% confidence
Source
Lech Wałęsa

Martial law imposed; Wałęsa arrested (13 Dec 1981)

General Jaruzelski declared martial law; Wałęsa and many Solidarity leaders were arrested and he was interned for about 11 months.

1981
99% confidence
Source
Lech Wałęsa

Named Time Person of the Year (1981)

Time magazine Person of the Year 1981 for his leadership of Solidarity.

1981
99% confidence
Source
Jim Simons

Oswald Veblen Prize in Geometry

Awarded the American Mathematical Society's Oswald Veblen Prize for his work including discovery of Chern–Simons invariants.

1976
99% confidence
Source

💡 What this means for you

At age 38, you're at a pivotal point where many successful entrepreneurs made their breakthrough. Whether you're building your first company or scaling an existing one, these examples show what's possible with focus and execution.

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