We ask founders what impressive things they've done: older founders have had more time to do things.
I roughly take the quotient (amount of impressive achievements) / (age - 15).
so I guess 15 year olds get an unfair advantage regardless of what they've achieved.
Is it a negative signal if you're older but still only find one or two things you feel are 'impressive'? One of the things I noticed is that older founders I've met wouldn't bother with YC because it's for 'young folks'.
Bite to self: find a 14 year old felon with a long rap sheet, and bring him on as a co-founder.
I seem to answer the age question every application period....[1]. That said. We were 36 & 37. Not the oldest they'd ever seen, but one of the oldest in our batch. But there were a few of us over 35...