This doesn't make sense. What is "never done anything" supposed to mean?

I've worked with people in their 50s who have never raised money or started their own business but are incredibly capable with knowledge, experience and connections that would give them a massive advantage if they were to compete against younger founders.

It means precisely that -- if you're in your 50s, and have the experience of someone in their 20s, that's a red flag.

Good:

- You ran a successful business

- You managed a division at Google

- You were faculty at an elite university

- You were a management consultant at an elite firm, and build out a rolodex of elite connections

- You had a diverse array of jobs which give you a unique skillset for the startup at hand. For example, if you worked in a hospital, in China, and as an EE, you might be in a unique position to start a medical devices outsourcing firm.

Etc.

Bad:

- Spending 35 years as a SWE at a random company.

- A series of random jobs, with no coherence or anything of note (e.g. sales rep, admin, IT, etc.)

- ... and so on.

"incredibly capable with knowledge, experience and connections that would give them a massive advantage" means you can either get funding from a friend who knows you, or you probably want to find some way to signal that. If you haven't found a way to signal that in 35 years, odds are you won't be able to e.g. signal why someone should partner with you, buy your product, work for you, etc.

A 55 year old who is new to entrepreneurship should be viewed as analogous to a 20 year old, not worse. Track record should be evaluated without reference to age, there's nothing wrong with pivoting in your career. I thought maybe OP was reading into things too much (and maybe he is with respect to YC), but you're proving his point.

A fifty five year old has more track record upon which to form a judgement.

A twenty year old who can't find cofounders is more likely to be a positive outlier than a fifty five year old who can't. There are another thirty-five years of adult people skills there. If a person knows a cofounder would help but eschews finding one, it's not a strong positive signal.

I'm not sure that's true, a 20 year old is among their peers when trying to find a cofounder. I would expect it to be harder for a 55 year old to find a cofounder. I understand judging on not having a cofounder period, but age shouldn't come into it directly.

It's true an older person has more past, but if they were in a different line of work before there is only so much info that can be gained from it. It shouldn't be treated as a negative, at least not any more so than a fresh out of college kid is viewed.

At the end of the day it is quite literally age discrimination when you start making different judgements about the same measures (like presence of cofounder for example) just because of someone's age. To me that is clearly wrong. I don't have a problem with judging on factors that happen to relate to age (again like presence of cofounder), but however a particular person scores on that metric has to be taken at face value, not with reference to age.

No cofounders is a known problem when it comes to YC applications.

Finding a cofounder is not going to be among the hardest problems either will face.

It is not unreasonable to expect significantly greater resourcefulness from a fifty-five year old than a twenty year old when it comes to any particular problem.

Very self selective. You can't complain that your age is being used against you and then use other people ages who happen to be yours against them by gatekeeping.. if you haven't done x or raise y before my age that's a strong signal...

In the same manner your age is being used against you.. don't use it against others.

Experience with fundraising under your belt, yes. That was my point.

Yes. Twenty year olds have unrealized potential. At fifty-five, it is not unfair to call it wasted potential.

You know there are other career paths besides start up, right? Is it wasted potential for someone to be a doctor for 25 years and then decide they want to pursue some idea for a new medical device? Hell, I think certain spaces could use more entrepreneurs that have spent time on the ground first - edtech is a prime example.

I don't know if OP is qualified for YC but I'd hardly call the career he describes a waste.

Yes, of course. Indeed I consider parenting and friendships better metrics of success than career.

In terms of a snap business decision, the hypothetical fifty-five year old doctor who cannot get anyone to jump off the bridge with them is probably not worth making a bet on. Between friendships and personal relationships, nobody who knows them is willing to make a leap of faith. Or the doctor is unwilling to work with someone else.

If not having a cofounder was not a known problem, things would be different. But it is a known problem. A mature adult who cannot solve it doesn't get as much slack as a kid who can't. The kid is more likely to have extenuating circumstances. The adult not really.