Very few do. The difference in age of those receiving capital has to do with pitch ratios. When I was 18 I would have pitched for $100K that seemed like a huge sum of money then. That was a years salary back in 1997.
Now if you want 25% of what ever I think is the next big thing you had better pony up $5M.
Why? Because I could work a 9-5 Make $250k a year and live on $100k paying 2 devs $75k. Find a Partner to do the same, and we could have 4 devs, a CEO and a CTO that both worked 25 hours a week and have a company that did just fine. Until the partner and I were needed 40 hours a week, and we jumped ship knowing we had revenue to support us.
The big thing that youth brings is optimism. The big thing that age brings is experience. When you are 18 you think that if you had $50k you could change the world, so you ask for it. When you are 35 you think if you could have 5 years and $5m you could change the world.
It is harder to get $5m than $50k so fewer do. 35 year olds are also less likely to think that a 6 month old start up is worth $1B so they are less likely to get that kind of offer.
I don't think it is about age it is about Risk vs Reward, and the way people at different stages of their lives will run a company.
If I invest in to the business as a business expense, I don't have to pay taxes on their income. They have to pay taxes on their income. 75k is less than a good dev should cost, but the advantage of being old and experienced in product management is that you can offshore a great deal more than you can when you are young. $75k will get a you lot of dev in Russia, or Israel.
Now if you want 25% of what ever I think is the next big thing you had better pony up $5M.
Why? Because I could work a 9-5 Make $250k a year and live on $100k paying 2 devs $75k. Find a Partner to do the same, and we could have 4 devs, a CEO and a CTO that both worked 25 hours a week and have a company that did just fine. Until the partner and I were needed 40 hours a week, and we jumped ship knowing we had revenue to support us.
The big thing that youth brings is optimism. The big thing that age brings is experience. When you are 18 you think that if you had $50k you could change the world, so you ask for it. When you are 35 you think if you could have 5 years and $5m you could change the world.
It is harder to get $5m than $50k so fewer do. 35 year olds are also less likely to think that a 6 month old start up is worth $1B so they are less likely to get that kind of offer.
I don't think it is about age it is about Risk vs Reward, and the way people at different stages of their lives will run a company.