It is my observation that many of the young people who boast about age are gleefully unaware of the horrible failure rate of young, (under 30), entrepreneurs. Many point out the brilliant successes, without mentioning the 100 other young entrepreneurs that failed in the same space. The numbers bare out the indisputable fact that older entrepreneurs will fail less often than younger entrepreneurs. In fact the statistical variance in the success rate is so large that wise VCs and angels actually use age in their models.

For instance, if we are advising angels who are want to dabble, but are at heart risk averse, we do swing them over to that 38 year old guy with the new molecular imaging startup. On the other hand when we are advising VCs and angels that are more than just old ladies' investment clubs, we do steer them to the kids. This should not come as a surprise to people.

It would be a mistake for young people to think that they are better suited to creating successful startups. They are not. They are better suited to creating MORE startups, of a decidedly lower quality. The older entrepreneur in my illustration will show better judgment at every step of the game when compared to a younger entrepreneur.

That includes the first step . . . choosing to create a molecular imaging startup instead of a web 2.0 startup that anyone can copy.