3 ms·

Honest and possibly ignorant question here. Wouldn’t the median be more representative of how old the common founder would be? In a very simplistic example wi

by tucaz 8y ago

Honest and possibly ignorant question here. Wouldn’t the median be more representative of how old the common founder would be? In a very simplistic example with a data set of two people aged 20 and 70 you would get 45 as the average age when in fact that doesn’t reflect the reality. I always struggle when thinking about average vs median.

liftbigweights 8y ago
Yes, the median would be a better data point. Even better would be a qualification of "successful". Are they equating successful startups that are worth a million to trillion dollar companies like apple and amazon? > I always struggle when thinking about average vs median. Median takes away the bias of the extremes that averages can include. For example, if 9 people make $1 and 1 person makes $1000000, the average is about $100,000 while the media is $1. The $1 is more representative of the sample. But in this "research", there are far more data to unpack. Like the quality and quantity of "successful".
- compcoffee 8y ago
  >Median takes away the bias of the extremes that averages can include. What sort of extremes do you expect to see in age data for starting a business? There will be no 10 years olds, and likely no 90 years olds. >But in this "research", there are far more data to unpack. Why the quotations? Do you not believe this is research? This is a 1000 word summary of their work; do you think these researchers, from some of the best schools on the planet, didn't consider the sorts of questions you pose?
- mithr 8y ago
  > Even better would be a qualification of "successful". Did you... read the article? Fourth paragraph: "Among the top 0.1% of startups based on growth in their first five years, we find that the founders started their companies, on average, when they were 45 years old. These highest-performing firms were identified based on employment growth. The age finding is similar using firms with the fastest sales growth instead, and founder age is similarly high for those startups that successfully exit through an IPO or acquisition. In other words, when you look at most successful firms, the average founder age goes up, not down. Overall, the empirical evidence shows that successful entrepreneurs tend to be middle-aged, not young." You can _disagree_ with their definition of success, but they certainly have one.
- chrisweekly 8y ago
  ... and the mode is 1. Measures of central tendency worth keeping in mind when talking "averages": mean - what people usually mean by "average" median - central point on a number line (ie, the same number of items are greater, and lower, than the median) mode - the number which is most common in the set
cheez 8y ago
There is a chart in the article that gives you a better idea of the distribution.
tomrod 8y ago
That, and a view into whether the distribution is bi-modal.
ashelmire 8y ago
Without looking at the data, I'd bet that this skews the opposite of that way. In my observation of the world, 70 years olds don't often start up companies (tech or otherwise) - 18 year olds do. Given that, the median will probably be even higher than 45. I find it interesting that 45 was the average age when starting a top company, and since this was a 5 year mark survey they were all 50 at the time.

by tucaz 8y ago

liftbigweights 8y ago

Yes, the median would be a better data point. Even better would be a qualification of "successful". Are they equating successful startups that are worth a million to trillion dollar companies like apple and amazon? > I always struggle when thinking about average vs median. Median takes away the bias of the extremes that averages can include. For example, if 9 people make $1 and 1 person makes $1000000, the average is about $100,000 while the media is $1. The $1 is more representative of the sample. But in this "research", there are far more data to unpack. Like the quality and quantity of "successful".

compcoffee 8y ago
>Median takes away the bias of the extremes that averages can include. What sort of extremes do you expect to see in age data for starting a business? There will be no 10 years olds, and likely no 90 years olds. >But in this "research", there are far more data to unpack. Why the quotations? Do you not believe this is research? This is a 1000 word summary of their work; do you think these researchers, from some of the best schools on the planet, didn't consider the sorts of questions you pose?
mithr 8y ago
> Even better would be a qualification of "successful". Did you... read the article? Fourth paragraph: "Among the top 0.1% of startups based on growth in their first five years, we find that the founders started their companies, on average, when they were 45 years old. These highest-performing firms were identified based on employment growth. The age finding is similar using firms with the fastest sales growth instead, and founder age is similarly high for those startups that successfully exit through an IPO or acquisition. In other words, when you look at most successful firms, the average founder age goes up, not down. Overall, the empirical evidence shows that successful entrepreneurs tend to be middle-aged, not young." You can _disagree_ with their definition of success, but they certainly have one.
chrisweekly 8y ago
... and the mode is 1. Measures of central tendency worth keeping in mind when talking "averages": mean - what people usually mean by "average" median - central point on a number line (ie, the same number of items are greater, and lower, than the median) mode - the number which is most common in the set

cheez 8y ago

There is a chart in the article that gives you a better idea of the distribution.

tomrod 8y ago

That, and a view into whether the distribution is bi-modal.

ashelmire 8y ago

Without looking at the data, I'd bet that this skews the opposite of that way. In my observation of the world, 70 years olds don't often start up companies (tech or otherwise) - 18 year olds do. Given that, the median will probably be even higher than 45. I find it interesting that 45 was the average age when starting a top company, and since this was a 5 year mark survey they were all 50 at the time.