Re:Done with YC: Age Discrimination
by blagie on Tuesday August 10, 2021 @02:55PM
(#28132718)
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.
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.