Ageism is easier to pull off when you pretend it's something else.
I suspect they'd be fine with someone 18-24 who isn't a student being in the program - after all, they almost certainly expect you to drop out and focus on your startup fulltime if it gets traction.
If you're not comfortable with lying on the application, just enroll in online classes somewhere - voila, you're now a student! (Of course you still need to be an otherwise impressive candidate.)
On a related note, I'm toying with a new investment thesis: "old" entrepreneurs (above, say, 35) strike me as an interesting arbitrage opportunity. They seem wildly undervalued by silicon valley. Anyone want to start a syndicate with me to explore this idea?
Many "older" entrepreneurs are simply building businesses and quietly earning success. Let's be real -- $20K is significantly lower than unsecured credit lines many established adults have. This is pitched to students for the same reason that a paper route is pitched to elementary school kids: because it's so meager of a benefit that, from a relative perspective, it only appeals to them.
So, maybe that 73% consists of the quiet ones
being successful.
If you want a mentor to guide you to start
a US Main Street business, say, auto body repair,
grass mowing, landscaping, a pizza shop, etc.,
then there is no shortage of good sources.
But where did the founders of Microsoft, Intel,
Cisco, Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc. find
comparable mentors, that is, people who
had already done something quite similar and
could provide good advice? Yes, there was
advice, but nothing nearly so accurate as what
could get for, say, a pizza shop.
Net,
if are building one of the companies VCs
really need, then there isn't any mentoring
that is very close to the need. So, net,
for building a $1+ billion or, now, $10+
billion company in information technology,
largely just f'get about mentoring.
