No Country For Middle Age Techies: Why Startup Founders Resort To Botox

In tech, innovation is presumed to be the province of the young and experience is often considered an obstacle rather than an advantage. JL

Hannah Kuchler reports in the Financial Times:

If Silicon Valley wants humans to live for ever, it better start valuing those who are over 40. Y-Combinator, which spawned AirBnB and Dropbox, backs founders with an average age of 29. Even at the established tech companies with thousands of employees, older people are under-represented. There have been 90 age-discrimination suits filed against tech companies in California since 2012.
In San Francisco, I can go days without meeting anyone middle-aged. Young entrepreneurs are easy to spot because of their adherence to cliché, from their hoodies to their hoverboards. Appearing awkwardly at conferences and parties, many twenty-something founders seem to want to resemble the nerdy stars of HBO’s Silicon Valley. Finding older people is a greater challenge.“I can’t imagine working with someone over 40,” a friend, 27, who works at a start-up, told me. Having only ever worked in tech, she was oblivious to the idea that experience is valuable. I was thrown. At 30, I am the youngest in the small FT office out here and can’t imagine never working with people over 40.Even at the established tech companies with thousands of employees, older people are under-represented. Some see the over forties as a minority that needs its own advocates, with Google running the Greyglers group for employees of a “certain age”. At a recent Facebook conference, it was clear from the number of toddler videos that Mark Zuckerberg, 32, is not the only executive just starting a family. Plastic surgeons have reported older tech workers requesting Botox so they can better woo employers, rather than romantic partners. A few weeks ago, I did happen upon some older founders when I went to Singularity University’s start-up accelerator for a demo day. Hidden at the back of the Nasa campus in Mountain View, I found fascinating start-ups but also a rare haven for the over forties. Founder after founder showed off paunches and greying hair along with their credentials. One entrepreneur had 32 years of work experience.The average age of founders in this batch of start-ups was dragged down to 39 by a single 21-year-old. In contrast, the industry’s most famous accelerator, Y-Combinator, which spawned AirBnB and Dropbox, backs founders with an average age of 29. Tellingly, it makes this sound old, writing on its website: “A lot of people think it [the average age] is younger because the press especially like to write about young founders.”The SU accelerator’s older entrepreneurs are not your average app makers. Monique Giggy, director, explains they are not trying to launch another delivery app or Snapchat copycat. Instead, the aim is to create “exponential technologies” to address “humanity’s greatest challenges” — and they value the formal education that helps entrepreneurs tackle these problems.The founders of the university believe in the singularity, the idea that one day humans and robots will mould into one after AI surpasses human intelligence. Ray Kurzweil, one of the founders and author of The Singularity Is Near, hopes to become the oldest person on the planet via a cocktail of supplements and extracts. He believes these will help him “outrun” death, by living until technology can keep him alive forever.Rarely do I dream of becoming some kind of Robo-Hannah, but I do admire the accelerator for recognising that experience can lead to transformative technologies.In Silicon Valley, the same people who are enraged by sexism and racism often ignore ageism. Most large tech companies now publish diversity reports to track how many women and minorities they hire, yet not one reports on the ages of employees. But there have been 90 age-discrimination suits filed against tech companies in California since 2012. One complaint against HP alleges that older workers were targeted for lay-offs, while the HR department was supposedly required to ensure that three-quarters of external hires should be early in their career. HP is contesting the case. Start-up founders should not have to resort to Botox for success: youthful ambition combined with the wisdom of middle age can be a winning combination. Ambitious young entrepreneurs are often praised for their ability to convince venture capitalists that their app will disrupt a whole industry. However, it is the tech industry that really needs a makeover: if Silicon Valley wants humans to live for ever, it better start valuing those who are over 40.