If the Shoe Fits: How Old is an Entrepreneur?
by Miki SaxonA Friday series exploring Startups and the people who make them go. Read all If the Shoe Fits posts here.
Age is more a mental state than a physical one.
I’ve always said that smart people say/do stupid things and venture capitalist Vinod Khosla is proof of that.
“People under 35 are the people who make change happen,” said, “People over 45 basically die in terms of new ideas.”
The problem is that the data the tech world is so enamored with doesn’t back that up.
Vivek Wadhwa, a Duke University researcher, worked with the Kauffman Foundation in 2009 to explore the anatomy of a successful startup founder. That survey of more than 500 startups in high-growth industries showed that the average founder of a successful company had launched his or her venture at the surprisingly high age of 40. The study also found that people over 55 are almost twice as likely to launch high-growth startups than those aged 20 to 34.
The term “high growth” is key. 2010′s top two fastest-growing tech startups, according to Forbes, were First Solar, founded by a 68-year old, followed by Riverbed Technology, co-founded by entrepreneurs who were 51 and 33 at the time.
He should also inform the Merage Institute, which awards $100K to the top startup by a 45+-year-old founder (more runner-ups at the link).
- In 2016 it was iSilla – Movement for people with disabilities
- 2nd Prize – SonicBone – Bone Age – Ultrasound Device for Bone Age assessment
- 3rd Prize – Inensto – Aluminum Air Battery
In 2015 they were:
- 1st Prize – NiNiSpeech
- 2nd Prize – A new Hydrogen Energy Storage
- 3rd Prize – Glasses for AMD Macular Degeneration
Brian Acton was 37 when he founded WhatsApp.
Notice that all of them solve a real problem — a problem of which they wouldn’t be aware if they hadn’t faced it directly or indirectly themselves.
Which meant they had real world experience.
Even Mark Zukerberg had real world experience; he wanted an easy way to engage and keep up with his friends. Remember, Facebook was originally started for college kids.
The reason Khosla is so far off base, is that an entrepreneur can only disrupt that with which she is familiar enough to figure out a better way or see a hole and fill it.
Hence young males created Tinder and its clones to hookup and Match and its clones for something more permanent.
If you look at socially oriented startups, many of their founders, both young and old, saw the need first hand, while volunteering and/or traveling, came home and created a solution that answered that need.
It’s not a matter of age.
It’s a matter of three things
- See the need/experience the want/desire what isn’t
- Think of a way to solve/provide it
- Possess the drive, tenaciousness, guts and slight insanity required to turn an idea into a reality and a reality into a company
And those three things can happen to anyone at any age.
My thanks to KG for reminding me of how important it is to help smash these myths.
Image credit: HikingArtist
