I seem to remember something (possibly posted here) about most company founders actually being in their 30's and 40's. There's something to be said for the value of years of knowledge and experience.
It's based on actual data, not what sounds like a clueless VC's musings.
Statistically, the VC may even be right that people in their 20s innovate more, on average. But their problem is to figure out whether a specific person will innovate, not what's happening on average. Using non-causal correlates like age (or, for that matter, race, or citizenship, or a bunch of other things) is a bad mistake, in my opinion.
To be a bit more concrete, proportionally I'd guess that more whites than blacks have built silicon valley companies that are successful, by any measure you like (say, IPOing). But to use that fact as the basis for judging a potential founder wouldn't just be discriminatory and unethical, it'd be lazy and stupid.
It's based on actual data, not what sounds like a clueless VC's musings.
Statistically, the VC may even be right that people in their 20s innovate more, on average. But their problem is to figure out whether a specific person will innovate, not what's happening on average. Using non-causal correlates like age (or, for that matter, race, or citizenship, or a bunch of other things) is a bad mistake, in my opinion.
To be a bit more concrete, proportionally I'd guess that more whites than blacks have built silicon valley companies that are successful, by any measure you like (say, IPOing). But to use that fact as the basis for judging a potential founder wouldn't just be discriminatory and unethical, it'd be lazy and stupid.