[throwaway2215]

Ageism is easier to pull off when you pretend it's something else.

I suspect they'd be fine with someone 18-24 who isn't a student being in the program - after all, they almost certainly expect you to drop out and focus on your startup fulltime if it gets traction.

If you're not comfortable with lying on the application, just enroll in online classes somewhere - voila, you're now a student! (Of course you still need to be an otherwise impressive candidate.)

On a related note, I'm toying with a new investment thesis: "old" entrepreneurs (above, say, 35) strike me as an interesting arbitrage opportunity. They seem wildly undervalued by silicon valley. Anyone want to start a syndicate with me to explore this idea?

[engendered]

They seem wildly undervalued by silicon valley

Many "older" entrepreneurs are simply building businesses and quietly earning success. Let's be real -- $20K is significantly lower than unsecured credit lines many established adults have. This is pitched to students for the same reason that a paper route is pitched to elementary school kids: because it's so meager of a benefit that, from a relative perspective, it only appeals to them.

[graycat]

As in

http://cbinsights.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=0c60818e...

"73% of tech exits were not VC-backed".

So, maybe that 73% consists of the quiet ones being successful.

If you want a mentor to guide you to start a US Main Street business, say, auto body repair, grass mowing, landscaping, a pizza shop, etc., then there is no shortage of good sources.

But where did the founders of Microsoft, Intel, Cisco, Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc. find comparable mentors, that is, people who had already done something quite similar and could provide good advice? Yes, there was advice, but nothing nearly so accurate as what could get for, say, a pizza shop.

Net, if are building one of the companies VCs really need, then there isn't any mentoring that is very close to the need. So, net, for building a $1+ billion or, now, $10+ billion company in information technology, largely just f'get about mentoring.

[dyarosla]

Where in the article do you see 73% were not VC-backed? It doesn't have that number anywhere.

[graycat]

Apparently they changed the content of the link.

I got the link from e-mail of

Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2015 00:16:42 +0000

from CBInsights.

In that e-mail is

"73% of tech exits were not VC-backed

If you grabbed our 2014 Tech Exits Report

http://cbinsights.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=0c60818e...

, this stat might have jumped out at you."

The 73% figure did show in the link when I made my post -- checked to be sure.

Apparently now to get their 73% figure, have to use the page at the link to request their report.

[jacalata]

It doesn't have that stat, but you can calculate it from the numbers given: 2886 total exits and 640 (589 + 51) VC backed exits.

[throwaway2215]

You're assuming the value in Highland's program is the money (which I agree is small.) I assume the value is the access and mentorship.