> "“Young people are just smarter,” Zuckerberg told the audience of a 2007 VC conference, adding that successful startups should only employ young people with technical expertise."
> "“People under 35 are the people who make change happen,” said VC Vinod Khosla at a 2011 conference. “People over 45 basically die in terms of new ideas” because they “keep falling back on old habits.” Entrepreneur and VC Paul Graham said in a 2013 interview that investors tend to be biased against older founders. “The cutoff in investors’ heads is 32… after 32, they start to be a little skeptical.”"
I don't buy this, even as someone under 27. I could see an argument that younger people have more time to think creatively and catch on to new trends in technology since they likely have more time to do so than older people with families or greater responsibilities. However, I don't believe successful change is only limited to younger people. Heck, I have friends who are 25 that haven't even figured their own life out and don't know how to keep an apartment clean. Yet, they still must know better than a 35 year old with 10 years of industry experience?
To be honest, I've had more enjoyment working for startups with founders over 30 than under 25 - partly because those over 30 have less time for bullshit. They treat it like work (which is it). It was also helpful to learn from older people who could pass on both technical and life advice to me as a younger person from a "things I wish I knew at your age" perspective.
Younger founders could still be successful, but, in truth, working with a bunch of other young people my age could feel more like "hanging out" than getting work done. Sometimes young people don't actually know what to do in certain circumstances and have no one to ask, which can be good and bad depending on how you look at it.
If you want a business that is effectively a VC lottery ticket, ie flame out or go big in 18 months, you want folks under 30. They're stupid enough to believe the VC's and sign up, energetic enough to do something, and silly enough to keep up with the lifestyle fads that might produce something that goes exponential.
If you want a business that produces money, you want founders who know an industry, understand the holes and deficiencies, have a solid nose to avoid the bullshit and the swamps, keep tight control over their cashflow and realize that this will probably take about 5 years--that's someone 35+ and more probably 45+.
However, 5 years is WAY outside the return window for the modern lottery ticket VC. Consequently, they are going to give you every excuse in the book to avoid investing in a company other than "I'm buying a lottery ticket, not a business."
> "“People under 35 are the people who make change happen,” said VC Vinod Khosla at a 2011 conference. “People over 45 basically die in terms of new ideas” because they “keep falling back on old habits.” Entrepreneur and VC Paul Graham said in a 2013 interview that investors tend to be biased against older founders. “The cutoff in investors’ heads is 32… after 32, they start to be a little skeptical.”"
I don't buy this, even as someone under 27. I could see an argument that younger people have more time to think creatively and catch on to new trends in technology since they likely have more time to do so than older people with families or greater responsibilities. However, I don't believe successful change is only limited to younger people. Heck, I have friends who are 25 that haven't even figured their own life out and don't know how to keep an apartment clean. Yet, they still must know better than a 35 year old with 10 years of industry experience?
To be honest, I've had more enjoyment working for startups with founders over 30 than under 25 - partly because those over 30 have less time for bullshit. They treat it like work (which is it). It was also helpful to learn from older people who could pass on both technical and life advice to me as a younger person from a "things I wish I knew at your age" perspective.
Younger founders could still be successful, but, in truth, working with a bunch of other young people my age could feel more like "hanging out" than getting work done. Sometimes young people don't actually know what to do in certain circumstances and have no one to ask, which can be good and bad depending on how you look at it.