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An early-stage venture capitalist is asking a question that few people may want to consider, particularly now: Is there untapped potential among founders over 50?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSilicon Valley investors keep ignoring everyone older than even 40,\u201d Katerina Stroponiati, who founded her firm, Brilliant Minds, in April, told Fortune. <\/em>\u201cThey glorify youth, and it\u2019s a misallocation of capital.\u201d New York-based Brilliant Minds exclusively invests in founders 50 and older.<\/p>\n The veteran VC leader\u2014and 40-year-old millennial\u2014has long maintained an interest in breaking the stigma of aging and conducting longevity research. (She\u2019s undergone a battery of tests herself.) She thinks the ageism currently coursing through contemporary chatter, as well as the VC landscape, is a net-negative for everyone.<\/p>\n \u201cBesides age, there\u2019s a lot of research that founders over 50 are three times as likely to succeed\u2014have things like an IPO or an exit event,\u201d she said. \u201cBut the Silicon Valley people are focusing capital on 20-year-olds.\u201d<\/p>\n The idea for Brilliant Minds, which is industry-agnostic, was percolating for years before its launch this spring, Stroponiati said. \u201cI\u2019ve been an investor for over a decade, and at my previous fund, I invested in over 40 startups,\u201d she said. As an angel investor, she noticed the small number of founders over 50 who pitched her \u201cwere experts in their space, but would be shy and unconfident.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n That lack of confidence came from a feeling they were doing something wrong, she went on, owing to the fact that major investors routinely ignored, dismissed and discriminated against them. Meanwhile, she found, \u201cthe 20-year-olds are always overconfident, even if they have no idea about the market.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Granted, much like the presidency<\/a>, the capacity any company founder or leader has for continued success must necessarily bottom out as they age into senescence. Yet Brilliant Minds has no age limits on the founders they consider. Stroponiati is eager to point out that she\u2019s currently investing in a founder who\u2019s 72 years old, using AI to build a music application.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, you don\u2019t expect that, right?\u201d Stroponiati said. \u201cYou\u2019re expecting older people to build for other older people, but there are many out there who get the zeitgeist and get the current trends, and they\u2019re building stuff for everybody.\u201d (More than half of founders who pitch to Brilliant Minds utilize AI in their work.)<\/p>\n Another thing she sees: multi-generational teams, such as a 65-year-old building a startup with a 30-year-old. \u201cThat\u2019s the best,\u201d she said, pointing to the combination of experience and wisdom with fresh ideas.<\/p>\n The longevity space is ever-expanding. The current framework of retirement is \u201cstifling progress,\u201d she said, noting most people today can expect to live to be over 100\u2014making the 65-year retirement age seem premature. \u201cWe will live half of our lifetime retired; society was designed for half of our lifetime. It doesn\u2019t make sense,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u201cSo that\u2019s the goal of Brilliant Minds: Breaking the stigma, and bringing [older adults] to the forefront of innovation, not just as advisors like we are used to, but bringing them in.\u201d<\/p>\n The ageism in VC started around a decade ago, she said, when Silicon Valley really started to glorify young founders. \u201cThe internet was [modernized]. The iPhone came out, and all these apps were created, and that put the developer in the center,\u201d she recalled. \u201cYou had to be the developer. You had to be young. That was the narrative. But this is changing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s changing because society is changing. \u201cPeople are caring more about mental and physical health, and the culture has started to shift in that direction.\u201d Plus, now that AI tools and technology have become so profoundly advanced, startups no longer need to center their developers, Stroponiati believes. \u201cEven older non-technical people, if they have a deep knowledge of their space, can be in the center and use AI as a copilot.\u201d<\/p>\n The need for inclusion is paramount<\/a>, because for the first time, society has four generations, she went on, and representatives from all of them are able to contribute. \u201cAt the same time, we\u2019re gonna live half of our lifetime retired,\u201d she said. Sixty-year-olds are still \u201csuper energetic and wise,\u201d but most investors fail to consider that.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis doesn\u2019t make sense\u201d to Stroponiati; the close-mindedness directly hamstrings potential progress. \u201cWe have to include [older founders] in the society before it\u2019s too late\u2014before it gets ugly. And this is what I\u2019m doing with Brilliant Minds.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The fund is not philanthropy, Stroponiati is quick to emphasize. \u201cI really believe that they\u2019re bringing value.\u201d They\u2019re also bringing much-needed diversity<\/a>: 21% of Brilliant Minds applicants are female founders, compared to last year\u2019s 13% industry average. The average applicant is just over 61, and almost 30% are immigrants.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s a fortuitous time to be discussing the agility of older adults, as President Joe Biden withdrew from reelection<\/a>, and the Republican nominee, former president Donald Trump, is nearing 80<\/a>. That age-related hand wringing doesn\u2019t make Stroponiati nervous. \u201cHealth is not about age; this should be out of the equation,\u201d she said. \u201cOur health declines when we don\u2019t feel useful anymore. Age is the last mainstream discrimination.\u201d<\/p>\n Stroponiati is so bullish on that last bit that she doesn\u2019t even require the founders she meets\u2014no matter their age\u2014to have a succession plan in place, or know how many years they\u2019d be feasibly able to run the business. \u201cI don\u2019t ask these questions,\u201d she said. \u201cI treat them like everyone else\u2014like a founder\u2014and the due diligence I do is exactly the same that I used to do with younger individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n And for good measure: \u201cThe next unicorn will be founded by retired founders,\u201d Stroponiati said. \u201cThis is the vision of Brilliant Minds.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\nAge is but a number<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Reimagining society for an aging population<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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