Oh man, where to begin... #1 This is one of those self validating ideas from VCs. VCs, especially those in 2011, actually prey on the young and inexperienced,

Oh man, where to begin... #1 This is one of those self validating ideas from VCs. VCs, especially those in 2011, actually prey on the young and inexperienced, those who don't have enough experience to know bad deals when they see them. Older entrepreneurs presumably have more experience and would be a tougher nut to crack. Older entrepreneurs are also likely to put much more capital in the startup themselves, therefore, needing less from Angels and VCs. #2 The idea that someone intellectually or creatively peaks, especially at such a young age, is also rather absurd. Again, experience is a HUGE component of both of those and someone with more experience, has seen the past couple of bubbles knows what is coming and what to expect, how to read the tea-leaves and can navigate better. I remember in 2009 when the GFC was starting and the market was crashing for 2 weeks a boss of mine said something that will stick with me for as long as I live (BTW...he was a Kleiner Perkins CEO at the startup I was at and my direct boss...mid-50s. He was also a VC in a previous life as well as running the largest enterprise software shop in Europe). He said "I've made and lost millions of dollars several times in my career. There is always opportunity even if they sledding gets harder. The successful people are the ones that are calm when the waters get rough, not when they are still." He was an amazing person and an amazing CEO. I've personally noticed it is much easier to be calm when I can honestly say "I've seen this before". #3 Something that was not mentioned in the article is the notion that professional athletes often say that they physically start to deteriorate around age 30 but mentally peak around 32-40. They know the game better, they've see the schemes, the defenses/offenses, they can recognize the patterns better. Put the brain of a 40 year old John Elway into the body of a 25 year old John Elway and that guy wins 10 straight superbowls. I've started 5 companies, had 4 failures and one sorta success. I'm working on my next one now. I WISH I could go back and do so many things differently in those first two based on what I know now. However, I can't, but I do have the opportunity to go further in this next venture. And, I have the added benefit of several hundred thousand dollars in personal capital to invest as well as a loving spouse to support the family needs. Yes, I'm getting older, but that doesn't make me a worse programmer unless I let it. Would I be willing to sell myself to a VC right now? Not unless I'm getting a KP type VC (connections) or something else in return (not just money). For anyone interested, read Felix Dennis' book called 'How to Get Rich' on not letting go of even a single % if you can help it. Incidently this is why YC will have younger founders; the younger crowd simply cannot self fund as well as the older entrepreneurs. And younger founders need the advice more....though admittedly, all of us could use more connections ;) EDIT: I thought about this for a bit more and I guess I would sum it up thusly: "25 is when internet entrepreneurs peak for VCs to make money off of them...after that is declining returns". I HIGHLY doubt that the internet entrepreneur peaks at 25, just the VCs ability to make % returns off of them.