Last week I read a blog post by Steve Blank, entitled Too Young to Know it Can't be Done, and it's been bugging me ever since. I can agree in principle with his premise, "Accumulated experience can at times become an obstacle in thinking creatively," but I strongly disagree with his conclusion that young people are superior in entrepreneurship because, as Pearl S. Buck says (and Steve quotes), "The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore they attempt the impossible."

I'm 43 years old and just abandoned a successful career in public affairs consulting to start a consumer web service for TV audiences because I had a great idea and I know it solves a real problem no one else is addressing.

If I had a dime for every time someone told me I was too old to do this, the company would have three years of operating capital before we had to start generating revenue.

What's ironic is that I look much younger than my age, so for 20+ years in politics I had to fight age discrimination from people who assumed I was too young to know what I was doing. Now I have to fight age discrimination from people who assume I'm too old.

It's also ironic that Steve and others essentially attempt to create a self-fulfilling prophesy by telling older entrepreneurs that success for them is impossible (or at least improbable).

I will handle this new age discrimination the same way I handled it before. I'm simply going to prove wrong everyone who says I can't do this.

So, Steve, I respect you immensely but you are wrong. If you, or anyone else in VC, angel investing, or entrepreneurship thinks someone over 40 doesn't have the stamina or creativity to change the world, then it is you who are dinosaurs and not those of us who don't know - or refuse to believe - our success is impossible.