We still fund a lot of young early stage founders. I think there are two things that make them stand out less on Demo Day. First, batches are much larger and the average age of the batch has increased. Second, these founders are much less likely to be starting consumer startups and therefore they blend in better with the other startups.
Another important change over the past 10 years is that many talented young potential founders are being vacuumed up by the big tech companies once they graduate from college (or before in college internship programs). Essentially, the big companies are pre-hiring their future competition. The combination of these actions and the strangling of distribution channels (messaging, social networking, and email) is preventing consumer startups from getting a foothold. And by and large young founder tend to be attracted to consumer startups.
> And by and large young founder tend to be attracted to consumer startups.
This, and everything else you said related to it, are an excellent point I hadn't thought about, and maybe that's why it seems different. Thanks for pointing that out.
Another important change over the past 10 years is that many talented young potential founders are being vacuumed up by the big tech companies once they graduate from college (or before in college internship programs). Essentially, the big companies are pre-hiring their future competition. The combination of these actions and the strangling of distribution channels (messaging, social networking, and email) is preventing consumer startups from getting a foothold. And by and large young founder tend to be attracted to consumer startups.
We are doing a number of things to counteract the recruiting efforts of big companies including YC Early Decision: https://blog.ycombinator.com/early-decision/ and YC Startup School: https://www.startupschool.org.