I was 47 years old when I started my most recent startup (I am now 52). I am the 3rd oldest among my co-Founders (the 2nd oldest will be celebrating his 60th birthday this summer). I am also the only one on the team who had any kind of previous startup experience. We struggled for three years and took no salaries (1st year was conceptual, 2nd year to develop product, 3rd year we started shipping). The company is five years old and has been profitable for two years. It was recently selected for the Emerging Company of the Year Award by Frost & Sullivan. I also decided to take an early retirement early this year to write my book and travel with my parents and my kids. We took no VC money and we control our own distiny. We were successful for the same reasons that all startups are successful. We were dedicated, we were tenacious, we were lucky and we focus our energy on making sure that there are as many people as possible who care about our success and not our failure. It also helps that we took no shortcut, in life or in business. We work hard to keep every friends that we have and we didn't try to make new enemies.

Sometimes the good guys do get to win, even if we were just a bunch of old farts. So there is hope for all of us.

Good luck, everyone.