I have these tiger repellent shoes. They're just standard black/black Adidas Superstars, but I have never seen a tiger while wearing them (and i have travelled a lot).
I'm not sure age discrimination actually exists in the startup industry, and certainly anyone who equates correlation with causation doesn't have any place attempting to do anything that requires a modicum of intelligence IMHO. Nor would i want to work with a VC who made such an error.
What I find funny is that people just throw these stats out there without any acknowledgement of this, nor any discussion of confounding variables - at least David Lee is acknowledging that he should have done so during his presentation rather than after. I bet there is significant correlation between the founders of successful companies and their families socio-economic background too - look at how many are Ivy League graduates or dropouts. How about their marital status? Number of children? Personal debt? Tenure related benefits? These factors are likely much more significant than age in determining the amount of time and effort a person can put into something, and how much risk one is willing to take doing anything. However since age has a strong correlation with these other attributes it's just easier for people use age as a kind of summary statistic. Recognition of this is severely lacking, especially amongst the media types (who I'm sure actually do know better, but it's a pretty boring headline isn't it?).
Anyone can do anything they want with enough time and effort. Some people need less of these than others, and timing has a lot to do with success. But it has precisely fuck all to do with age alone.
I find it funny that SV Angel had to come out with a clarification on the matter. I recall feeling pretty bummed after hearing this presentation. It was a weird tone given the general can-do attitude of the TC Disrupt audience. Here's the way I resolve this ... I have my own reasons for not having done a startup earlier in life, and if anyone holds my age against me in an entrepreneurial endeavor, it is their loss.
I wish we had more discussion on the topic of insane ageism (I'm 31 and apparently, I'm over the hill?) in tech startups as opposed to more discussion on stupid bitcoins.
I'm not sure age discrimination actually exists in the startup industry, and certainly anyone who equates correlation with causation doesn't have any place attempting to do anything that requires a modicum of intelligence IMHO. Nor would i want to work with a VC who made such an error.
What I find funny is that people just throw these stats out there without any acknowledgement of this, nor any discussion of confounding variables - at least David Lee is acknowledging that he should have done so during his presentation rather than after. I bet there is significant correlation between the founders of successful companies and their families socio-economic background too - look at how many are Ivy League graduates or dropouts. How about their marital status? Number of children? Personal debt? Tenure related benefits? These factors are likely much more significant than age in determining the amount of time and effort a person can put into something, and how much risk one is willing to take doing anything. However since age has a strong correlation with these other attributes it's just easier for people use age as a kind of summary statistic. Recognition of this is severely lacking, especially amongst the media types (who I'm sure actually do know better, but it's a pretty boring headline isn't it?).
Anyone can do anything they want with enough time and effort. Some people need less of these than others, and timing has a lot to do with success. But it has precisely fuck all to do with age alone.