Is 30 too old to start a company?
valleywag.com
valleywag.com
Here's how you too can make up a sensational headline: 1) Start with an assumption 2) collect data points that prove your assertion -- leave those that don't out of the calculation.
There is no 'right' age to start a company. No age is too old.
-KFC was started by Col. Sanders when he was 50 something.
-John Warnock co-founded Adobe when he was 42.
There are many more examples, but those are only a couple off the top of my head.
EDIT: The comments in the valleywag piece contain a few more examples like Jim Clark.
I intend to wait until I'm 87 to start my company. We all know of failed startups that were founded by 20, 30, or 40-somethings, but you almost never see a failed startup with an 80-year-old founder. I'm sure that means something.
Seriously though, I started my first one when I was 11 -- and no, it was not a lemonade stand ;). Profitable too.
Arguably, the same thing happens in science. Great fundamental discoveries are most often made by brilliant scientists in their 20s.
Have you heard of Perelman? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Perelman
Tesla http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikola_Tesla Feynman http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Feynman
"Age is another factor which the physicists particularly worry about. They always are saying that you have got to do it when you are young or you will never do it. Einstein did things very early, and all the quantum mechanic fellows were disgustingly young when they did their best work. Most mathematicians, theoretical physicists, and astrophysicists do what we consider their best work when they are young. It is not that they don't do good work in their old age but what we value most is often what they did early. On the other hand, in music, politics and literature, often what we consider their best work was done late. I don't know how whatever field you are in fits this scale, but age has some effect."
I'm sure there are plenty of counter-examples, yes.
Rock music: Young is better.
Classical music: Old is okay.
Software business: Young is better.
Manufacturing business: Old is okay.
Mathematics: Young is better.
Literature: Old is okay (actually, better).
Chess: Young is better. (I could probably beat Fischer by now.)
Contract bridge: Old is okay. (Don't laugh--Gates and Buffett play).
Revolutionary conflict: Young is better.
Invading Russia: Old is okay.