Almost every techie, while in their earlier days wish to change the world by starting their own business. Somewhere down the line, as the years roll by, this vision of starting one’s own business starts taking the back seat and in no time, you get old and realize that you have other responsibilities and that its too late to start a business anyway. To be honest, not just techies, this thought crosses every individual who holds a spirit of entrepreneurship in them.
Well, we’re here to let you know otherwise. It is never too late and that’s not just any inspirational wisdom we’re trying to put off on you. No.
A recent study conducted by the Census Bureau and two MIT professors have led to the understanding that most of the successful entrepreneurs are middle-aged, even in the tech sector.
Study Shows Most Entrepreneurs are Mid-aged
The study and the researchers found out that most of the successful entrepreneurs tend to be middle-aged and that the average startup-founder was 45 years old, when he or she founded the most successful tech companies.
About 2.7 million company founders hired at least one employee between 2007 and 2014. Speaking of which, a 50-year-old entrepreneur is almost twice as likely to start an extremely successful company as a 30-year-old.
Check out these statistics:
- A 50 year old startup founder is 2.2 times more likely to have found a successful startup as a 30 year old.
- A 40 year old startup founder is 2.1 times more likely to have found a successful startup as a 25 year old.
- A 50 year old startup founder is 2.8 times more likely to have found a successful startup as a 25 year old.
Although the best deal here is:
A 60 year old startup founder is 3 times as likely to found a successful startup as a 30 year old startup founder and is 1.7 times as likely to found a startup that winds up in the top 0.1 percent of all companies.
What Helps and How?
Age is definitely a factor, as it brings along with it experience and the difference between ideas and execution, which is the major ground-breaker. Ideas are the first step but execution wins the game. The same is true with strategy and tactics.
Experience definitely comes with age and hardwork. In fact, it is more difficult to execute well when you have limited experience. It is much harder to develop a sound strategy when you have limited experience. With limited experience, you lose confidence on your own decisions and tactics, especially when you need to make a number of decisions every day.
So, all we got to say is, from what the stats speak to us, if you’re in your 40s and looking to start a business, do it. If you’re in your 50s, do it. If you’re in your 60s, do it. It is never too late. Successful entrepreneurs don’t have some intangible entrepreneurial ideas, talent, drive, skills, or creativity.
All you’ve got to do is believe in yourself especially if you’re willing to work hard.