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There have been a lot of studies and surveys done regarding the peak age of entrepreneurship. Very few of those studies support the idea that youth is a benefit

There have been a lot of studies and surveys done regarding the peak age of entrepreneurship. Very few of those studies support the idea that youth is a benefit to starting a business. I'll post a few quotes and links here: "In 2008, I led a research team in exploring the backgrounds of 652 U.S.-born chief executive officers and heads of product development in 502 successful engineering and technology companies established from 1995 to 2005. These were companies with real revenue -- not just the start-ups founded by the college dropouts that some venture capitalists like to fund. We learned that the average and median age of successful founders was 39. Twice as many founders were older than 50 as were younger than 25. And there were twice as many over 60 as under 20." http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-innovations/the-case-for-old-entrepreneurs/2011/12/02/gIQAulJ3KO_story.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-innovations/the-ca... "It does not take but one minute to look around the world and prove any thesis of a peak tech founder age incorrect. There are countless entrepreneurs over the age of 30, including Reid Hoffman (age 35 in 2002), Evan Williams of Twitter (age 35 in 2007), Mark Pincus of Zynga (age 41 in 2007), Arianna Huffington of the Huffington Post (age 54 in 2005), among many others." http://techcrunch.com/2011/05/28/peak-age-entrepreneurship/ http://techcrunch.com/2011/05/28/peak-age-entrepreneurship/ "“It turns out that over the past decade or so, the highest rate of entrepreneurial activity belongs to the 55-64 age group. The 20-34 age bracket, meanwhile, which we usually identify with swashbuckling and risk-taking youth (think Facebook and Google), has the lowest rate.” Ecopreneurist (http://s.tt/12HYH) http://s.tt/12HYH) http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/09/21/the-average-age-of-an-entrepreneur-is-older-than-you-might-think/ http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/09/21/the-average-age-of-an-en... Aside from the quotes, I would also appeal to your own experience. If you are over the age of 25, then ask yourself, have you learned anything useful over the last 5 years? Have you learned important things about, say for instance, software, money, managing your time, communicating with people who are different from you, politics, self-discipline, the law, or perhaps a problem domain that you find exciting? If you haven't learned anything useful in the last 5 years, I would say you are doing something very wrong with your life. If you have learned something useful in the last 5 years, doesn't that suggest you have some new skills that will help you when you launch your business?

dodo53 14y ago
I think a huge factor is attitude to risk. The younger entrepreneurs are in the no-ties shoot-for-the-sky phase. A larger proportion of people in the 30-40 range will be becoming more risk averse as they need to have financial stability to pay mortgages/support kids/spouses or whatever. But people tend to become more able to take financial risk as they get past young-kids stage, and develop enough of a savings cushion to go off on their own for a bit.
- lkrubner 14y ago
  "The younger entrepreneurs are in the no-ties shoot-for-the-sky phase." But of course, we know that these types of endeavors have the highest failure rates, of all the different kinds of new businesses that you can start. The shoot-for-the-sky businesses seem to appeal mostly to certain venture capitalists, who are looking for the occasional big payout. And that kind of venture firm doesn't really care about the fact that shoot-for-the-sky projects have a high failure rate, since a high failure rate is already part of the venture model. But if we are talking about the majority of successful businesses that get launched in the USA, then the average age of entrepreneurs is much older than the youthful image that gets much discussed on certain startup sites.
- dllthomas 14y ago
  On the other hand, people with a spouse that can pay the bills can afford to be less risk-averse, and they are usually older.
- fghh45sdfhr3 14y ago
  I think risk might be the opposite. Very young people might have no risk... unless they don't want to move back in with their parents. But older people might have the least risk if their kids are grown and don't need help, their own parents gone, and they have enough money saved not to worry about failing. Thus over 50 could have less risk than 25 and under.
  - SatvikBeri 14y ago
    Anecdotally, many of the older people I know starting businesses have their kids moved out, and either a spouse whose income is more than enough for both of them or enough savings to retire. That might be why so many people in the 55-64 age group are starting businesses.

dodo53 14y ago

I think a huge factor is attitude to risk. The younger entrepreneurs are in the no-ties shoot-for-the-sky phase. A larger proportion of people in the 30-40 range will be becoming more risk averse as they need to have financial stability to pay mortgages/support kids/spouses or whatever. But people tend to become more able to take financial risk as they get past young-kids stage, and develop enough of a savings cushion to go off on their own for a bit.

lkrubner 14y ago
"The younger entrepreneurs are in the no-ties shoot-for-the-sky phase." But of course, we know that these types of endeavors have the highest failure rates, of all the different kinds of new businesses that you can start. The shoot-for-the-sky businesses seem to appeal mostly to certain venture capitalists, who are looking for the occasional big payout. And that kind of venture firm doesn't really care about the fact that shoot-for-the-sky projects have a high failure rate, since a high failure rate is already part of the venture model. But if we are talking about the majority of successful businesses that get launched in the USA, then the average age of entrepreneurs is much older than the youthful image that gets much discussed on certain startup sites.
dllthomas 14y ago
On the other hand, people with a spouse that can pay the bills can afford to be less risk-averse, and they are usually older.
fghh45sdfhr3 14y ago
I think risk might be the opposite. Very young people might have no risk... unless they don't want to move back in with their parents. But older people might have the least risk if their kids are grown and don't need help, their own parents gone, and they have enough money saved not to worry about failing. Thus over 50 could have less risk than 25 and under.
- SatvikBeri 14y ago
  Anecdotally, many of the older people I know starting businesses have their kids moved out, and either a spouse whose income is more than enough for both of them or enough savings to retire. That might be why so many people in the 55-64 age group are starting businesses.