Memo to older entrepreneurs: Don't wear a suit when pitching to VCs

Another post about age and entrepreneurs, this time written by VC Seth Levine (a colleague of Foundry Group's Brad Feld):

I recently waked into a pitch meeting for a social networking related business and was surprised by what I saw. I had interacted with the entrepreneur over email – taking a look at the initial business plan and setting up the meeting – but we hadn’t met in person before. In front of me were three guys in suits, each in their late 40′s or early 50′s, with an older Dell laptop and a paper print-out of some product ideas. And as I sat there listening to their pitch I couldn’t help but think about how differently I might have reacted if this team was in their 20′s or 30′s, dressed in full tech/nerd hipster outfits (or at least jeans and sneakers), and whether there is a negative age bias in venture capital.

Levine tries to sound sympathetic, but it's pretty clear that there is a strong negative stereotype on his part, exacerbated by the choice of clothing used by the team pitching him.

In the comments below the post, there's the expected back-and-forth between older startup founders who bring up the advantages of age/experience and others who trot out more negative stereotypes (e.g., old founders can't handle long hours) and outright misinformation (older founders seek venture capital as income replacement?! C'mon!).

But one of the most interesting comments was by someone named "Kendal":

No one is addressing the elephant in the room. VCs prefer younger entrepreneurs because VC money is largely a game of pimping the inexperienced. Newbies won't argue deal points and won't resist when VCs strong arm them to place their own people in management positions and pick board members.

Experienced entrepreneurs, or those with long domain expertise (generally people in their 30s,40s,50s) won't simply rollover and obey orders. Why? Because they actually kind of know what they are doing.

Levine disagrees with Kendal, but there's a parallel in the corporate world and even the military: The younger the hire, the more easily they can be molded.

I am going to keep an open mind about all of these opinions until I've had more experience in the startup world myself.

"Peak age" for entrepreneurs

There's a vibe in the investment community that only ventures started by young people are worth backing. After all, a 22-year-old "boy wonder" fresh out of Stanford can work 100 hours a week on a startup and doesn't have parental responsibilities or outdated thinking.

I can see the logic. But I also think that middle-aged people have their own advantages and efficiencies, ranging from domain expertise (including specific technical abilities or industry networks) to management smarts (including hiring and team-building skills). The data on the success of young vs. old founders is mixed, but I am heartened by the success stories, including many companies started by middle-aged graduates of the mid-career MBA program that I attended. HubSpot, E-Trade, and A123 Systems are the most well-known, but there are many more up-and-coming ventures such as Buzzient and mob376. In addition, Bill Aulet, the managing director of the MIT Entrepreneurship center, started or joined several new ventures after completing the Sloan Fellows program -- and he has four kids!

Work-life balance for entrepreneurs who are parents

Last night I was awakened by the sound of my son crying. He was sick to his stomach, and he would spend the next few hours retching.

It also meant that one parent would have to stay home to keep an eye on him throughout the day. One of us has a steady job that brings in income and health insurance, while one of us doesn't have a fixed office address and works weird hours on two ventures that have yet to bring in a penny of revenue.

Guess who stays home?

Meanwhile, the educational product startup is on hiatus because my partner's wife just had a baby (their second). When do you think we'll be meeting next to move product development along?

I bring up these examples not to criticize my wife and my partner, but to recognize the reality of juggling a business and family responsibilities: No matter how hard you want to charge forward on your venture, you can only go so far in terms of sacrificing your family's well-being.

Where I draw the line often depends on the availability of childcare. My kids rarely see me at night on weekdays, because I am off at meetings or working on the software startup. But they can manage my absence, as my wife is back from work at 5:30 and can watch them. During the day, they are at school or daycare, which allows both me and my wife to work. But when one child is unable to attend school because of illness, or there's a new baby on the scene, that's when the ventures have to take a backseat to family realities.