[mindcrime]

I don't have any hard data, but I can say, anecdotally, most 50+ are not "techies" and they don't know their way around a computer system. I believe this belief is rather common.

OK, that might actually be a fair point, if you're talking about the population of 50+ people at large. But in the context of "people founding tech startups," my guess would be that pretty much any "50+ tech startup founder" probably is a techie, or is at least pretty tech savvy.

Now if you had J. Random 50+ guy who had spent his entire career as a tobacco company accountant and he suddenly showed up saying he was founding "The Next Instagram," then maybe there would be some reason to go "hmmm... wait a minute." But, honestly, I think you could subtract the "50+" part of that and the point would be exactly the same. Would it matter if J. Random 25 year old tobacco company accountant showed up and said "I'm founding The Next Instagram?" Wouldn't the reason for the skepticism be the individual's background and experiences, and not their age?

We are all free to pontificate on whether this is a fair generalization or not, but I think it is clearly that it is commonly held and something an older founder will have to face and address if he wants to succeed.

Probably, but I wouldn't want to be in the business of helping perpetuate this kind of ageism.