Is There A Venture Capital Case To Be Made For "Old Entrepreneurs"?

Vinod Khosla (photo originally appeared in The Washington Post)

Washington Post columnist Vivek Wadhwa recently raised an often whispered question about age and entrepreneurship. Using remarks by venture capitalist Vinod Khosla as a launching point, Wadhwa states the issue plainly: is there an age threshold for individuals who, in Khosla's words, "make change happen"?

This thorny proposition is usefully explored in Wadhwa's column. The piece includes links to an interesting session conducted by Garage Technology Ventures in which Google's Eric Schmidt and Sequoia Capital's Michael Moritz address the topic. The prevailing sentiment, at least from Silicon Valley and other tech bastions, is that age matters in certain circumstances. According to this line of reasoning, the most "disruptive" ideas, inventions, and innovations in technology come from twenty-something wolves. However, in areas where experience adds exponential value to a firm's direction and performance, the age  ceiling moves up into an essentially less defined zone.

In fairness, Moritz hedged his bets by mentioning there were some older folks, such as Yahoo's Terry Semel, who "has the metabolism of somebody in his 20s. You can have some old 20-somethings and some young 60-year-olds, but the passion is the enduring things."

Now, I have some skin in this game, as my age puts me in the older-than-25 group. I'm old enough to be wary of buzzword use, including current vocabulary flavors such as "disruptive" and "passion." Still, the whispered question about age is there, and clearly present in the VC and entrepreneur communities.

You're welcome to comment on this topic. It's one that will not go quietly into the night.