Last weekend I went to another Startup Weekend event. This is the awesome 54-hour (Friday to Sunday) event sponsored by TechStars that takes teams from initial rough idea to building a team then finishes with pitches in front of investors. Over the years I have mentored teams or judged the final pitches at five Startup Weekend events.
Startup weekend is a great way to meet other entrepreneurs, work with mentors, test ideas, and get in front of potential investors.
But what could possibly be missing?
Of the 75+ Startup Weekend teams I have seen there was no one over the age of forty-five. Most are under 25 years old.
There could be a few reasons for this but I think the main reason is that more experienced people in their forties and fifties probably are not comfortable on a team of people possibly younger than their own children. And why should they be?
These experienced executives may be doomed to spending time with people who really don’t know much about business. Sure, these twenty-somethings can probably whip together a nice PowerPoint presentation but how could they ever run a business as well as some who has been in the trenches for twenty plus years?
Does anybody else beside me think it might be time to run a Startup Weekend exclusively for people over forty-five?
Why should the young have all the Startup fun?
