I think before you go around slamming the VC culture in this particular thread, you might want to consider that Jody Sherman was well into his forties when he founded Ecomom.
I think as the other reply you got to this states. It's not slamming VC culture. It's recognizing a reality. And your point actually reinforces it.
Jody Sherman - who committed suicide after all - was under the increased pressure of knowing if he doesn't make THIS one a hit, he probably won't be given another chance. That is part of the whole stress, and the problems related to it, that are in question in this thread.
Sure, which means it was probably his last opportunity to be funded. (Also, I'm 29, so I have no personal issue with age discrimination-- yet. But it will become "our issue" for all of us, and I recognize the time pressure that it injects into all stages of the career game as unhealthy.)
Outside of VC-istan, the idea that you face inexorable career decline in your 50s would seem bizarre, brutal, and unreasonable.
You're saying that even if 5 years down the road ecomom had turned into a 5x or 10x return for the investors, he still would have trouble raising money for his next idea?
