You say "it's not an ageism problem" but them go on to define an ageism problem. Your comment defines a stereotype of older people, claiming they cling to loyalty and have management styles incompatible with startup culture.
This simply isn't true. Some older developers have worked for Fortune 500 companies writing enterprise Java software for their entire careers. These developers often aren't right for a startup. But I've worked with teams of 100+ young (majority in their 20s) developers who can't think outside of Java + Apache + Tomcat + Waterfall world.
Age isn't a deciding factor for me when hiring someone. If a 65 year old developer approaches me with proven skills in multiple technologies (maybe node.js + scala + go), I really want to talk to this person.
This simply isn't true. Some older developers have worked for Fortune 500 companies writing enterprise Java software for their entire careers. These developers often aren't right for a startup. But I've worked with teams of 100+ young (majority in their 20s) developers who can't think outside of Java + Apache + Tomcat + Waterfall world.
Age isn't a deciding factor for me when hiring someone. If a 65 year old developer approaches me with proven skills in multiple technologies (maybe node.js + scala + go), I really want to talk to this person.
You are hurting yourself with this attitude.