[LastManStanding]

I am not making any accusations against anyone - it is obvious that Paul Graham has an age bias - he says so all over the place, but there is no law against having a bias. Age discrimination is almost impossible to prove, but if it is being used in the decisions of who gets into Y-Combinator someone should look into it.

[jiggy2011]

where has he said he has an age bias?

[LastManStanding]

He does.

[jiggy2011]

Has he said so in an essay? On a HN post? To YC founders in person?

[LastManStanding]

See comment above. There was another interview or blog post where he talked about his preference for young people more extensively, but I can't find it. Do you happen to know how many people over 50 have been accepted into Y-Combinator?

[jiggy2011]

I wonder how many people over 50 would apply? IIRC the seed capital they provide is probably small enough that a 50 year old would likely have that in their savings and possibly enough contacts/credit rating to get other funding directly.

The closest I could find was this: http://www.paulgraham.com/mit.html

But all he really says there is that younger founders have an advantage that they can live on less money.

[herdrick]

You're thinking of someone else. Paul has corrected people here several times when they say something like, "I'd like to apply to YC but I'm X years old.". Usually his reply is approximately "We've funded several people ten years older than you.". I think the oldest YC funded founder is 50 something. So far.