When you think about it though, Plenty of 28-30 year olds take on $100K in debt and forfeit as much or more in lost wages to get an MBA. Through that lens YC and an angel round seems like a great deal relative to the network and opportunity you get.
Very few 35-40 year olds are going to give up 75% of their income for any reason.
Nobody's criticizing YC here though; we're all just making the obvious point that YC trends young because people with established careers in tech make a lot more money in a year than many YC participants will see in several.
I'm not sure what you mean by this. Are you suggesting that older individuals are less willing to take financial risk? I agree with that, but where is your 30-40K number coming from?
I'm still not sure I follow your reasoning. Admission to YC does not guarantee ramen-profitably nor does it preclude the possibility of earning a lot more.
On the other hand, a majority of YC companies over the last year or two raise significant funding pretty quickly. A modest angel round can support a spouse/kids/mortgage lifestyle.
I used to be under the impression that one was obliged to take a low salary while employed by or founding an early-stage startup. Your seemingly sincere comment and an anecdote from a friend who was offered a quite competitive salary are starting to change my mind.
The general rule is that founders should pay themselves as little as possible. For some people, that's $30K, and for others, it's $100K. Just depends on where one is in life.
I'm sorry to have written something that could be misconstrued as saying "there are no startups that get 10MM A rounds", but I was actually making a more subtle point.
