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I think the whole article boils down to this (note my emphasis) -------------------------------- The scary thing is, if you're an entrepreneur, your days of s

I think the whole article boils down to this (note my emphasis) -------------------------------- The scary thing is, if you're an entrepreneur, your days of starting companies from scratch are probably over by age 45. I'm not happy about this; in fact, that particular deadline will loom in my career all too soon. But it's based on a realistic assessment of the Silicon Valley ecosystem. Like it or not, the startup world is full of a pervasive and unacknowledged ageism ------------------------------------------------ * He doesn't provide any data to back up his claim that starting a company from scratch is over once you hit 45, and I've read enough outside of HN to know this is not true especially when you get outside of Software technology. * Noting how he mentions the 'Silicon Valley ecosystem' should give you further notice that you can safely ignore this article if you don't live in Silicon Valley. Just because things happen a certain way in one place doesn't mean that it happens like that everywhere ... There is ageism in the software industry and that probably manifests itself in the startup world, but we haven't even matured as an industry ... Do you think Mark Zuckerberg is going to get turned down for VC money at 50 because he's over-the-hill? I'm thinking not. The industry is still young (we have what ... 10, 20 years of data to back this up?), extrapolating things like this while we're in the middle of one of the most fascinating periods of technological change is kind of silly, history has shown that resolve more than anything else determines success in areas such as this ... its not like sport where your body gives out long before your mind is willing to.

chrisyeh 14y ago
The post specifically refers to Silicon Valley; you can feel free to ignore it if you're not in that ecosystem. Mark Zuckerberg won't get turned down because he's already super-successful--and I point out the fact that if you do hit a home run, the limits don't apply. The Silicon Valley high-tech startup culture dates back nearly 60 years if you mark the beginning with Fairchild, more if you mark it with HP. You can overcome bias with achievement...but you ought to acknowledge that it exists, and plan accordingly.

chrisyeh 14y ago

The post specifically refers to Silicon Valley; you can feel free to ignore it if you're not in that ecosystem. Mark Zuckerberg won't get turned down because he's already super-successful--and I point out the fact that if you do hit a home run, the limits don't apply. The Silicon Valley high-tech startup culture dates back nearly 60 years if you mark the beginning with Fairchild, more if you mark it with HP. You can overcome bias with achievement...but you ought to acknowledge that it exists, and plan accordingly.