tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2460005.post2916083399343136956..comments2023-11-05T04:28:29.961-08:00Comments on Adventures in Capitalism: Entrepreneurs, The Clock is Ticking on Your CareerChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00927628412285314176noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2460005.post-37888400496190626352012-05-14T13:57:20.047-07:002012-05-14T13:57:20.047-07:00goodcoffee,
This is definitely a Silicon Valley-c...goodcoffee,<br /><br />This is definitely a Silicon Valley-centric article. I do think that there are many reasons why older entrepreneurs are more likely to succeed, but they do face ageism on the part of investors (who, ironically enough, are closer to them in age than to the 20something entrepreneurs the investors seem to prefer).<br /><br />Fred,<br /><br />It's pretty amazing that in Silicon Valley, experience often loses out to inexperience. I think the issue arises from the fact that many VCs are outside the target demographic of consumer internet products. They are forced to rely on external markers rather than their own product instincts.<br /><br />Gord,<br /><br />I've been a fan of Noam and his research for years. The fact that it backs up my point is a bonus.<br /><br />I actually got a chance to meet Noam at my last HBS reunion in 2010. Cool guy.Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00927628412285314176noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2460005.post-67859703588118952972012-05-14T09:09:47.608-07:002012-05-14T09:09:47.608-07:00Noam Wasserman just came out with his book The Fou...Noam Wasserman just came out with his book <i>The Founder's Dilemmas</i> and he's done a massive amount of quantitative research on this question (10,000 founders strong). <br /><br />From his HBR article "Don't Wait Too Long to Become an Entrepreneur"<br /><br />"Entrepreneurs are more effective at building ventures from scratch once they have attained a certain level of maturity and self-knowledge, but they can achieve this without spending most of their working lives in corporate jobs. In my research on thousands of founders of high-potential ventures that had succeeded in raising capital from professional investors, 76% of founder-CEOs had worked for 20 years or less before founding their first ventures -- they had made the leap by the time they were in their early 40s."<br /><br />Wasserman talks about the issue of when to found (if you should found at all) in his book under the section "Career Issues". <br /><br />His research:<br />http://founderresearch.blogspot.com/<br /><br />The book:<br />http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0691149135/<br /><br />And the HBR article from above:<br />http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2008/09/dont_wait_too_long_to_become_a.html<br /><br />He covers a really impressive breadth and depth on entrepreneurship. Great reading.Gordhttp://www.thoughtfarmer.com/blognoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2460005.post-79523555925859669502012-05-14T02:34:03.278-07:002012-05-14T02:34:03.278-07:00Hi Chris,
I think that your article is great. Lik...Hi Chris,<br /><br />I think that your article is great. Like Rex I believe that being older is a true asset for starting a business: <br /><br />- Your concept (it's my case) may come from your own career and experience. That requires from you to be slightly older.<br /><br />- You can leverage on your experience to ensure that your business will work. As we all know without great execution your business may never take off. Efficient execution comes often from years spent dealing with customers, running projects, developing commercial and marketing strategies. This ensures that you rely on yourself rather than other people to run what is in the end YOUR business.<br /><br />I did write an article on this which received great feedback both on my blog and on linkedin. Please have a look. I'd be interested by your views on this. <br /><br />http://fredducrot.tumblr.com/post/18786293408/too-old-to-become-an-entrepreneur<br /><br />Finally I will also argue that you advocate for a very U.S/Californian view of entrepreneurship. From a European standpoint, age, maturity, experience - whatever you call it -- is definitely being viewed by investors as a plus when you present a project and thus increase your chance to get funded and/or provided with financial means to get started. <br /><br />Cheers<br /><br />FredFred Ducrothttp://fredducrot.tumblr.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2460005.post-57753893205100819772012-05-14T02:21:45.973-07:002012-05-14T02:21:45.973-07:00Nice article. I think the scope of this is isolate...Nice article. I think the scope of this is isolated to Silicon Valley though. Not all startups are created by hipsters that offer the latest photo app or coupon buying deal. There's plenty of stats that show more startups are created by under 30s BUT those started by over 30s are much more likely to survive past the 2 year mark. However, we should always keep an eye on the clock and never assume we have enough time!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2460005.post-56817867123473173252012-05-12T06:59:39.309-07:002012-05-12T06:59:39.309-07:00Rex,
You're absolutely right that this advice...Rex,<br /><br />You're absolutely right that this advice is extremely specific to Silicon Valley. In the broader world, 45 is viewed as being in the prime of one's career.<br /><br />Personally, I believe that one is better equipped at 45 to start a company than at 25, but I'm known for being an eccentric. For the past two years, I've been advising one Internet entrepreneur who's in his 70s. Ageism makes his job much more difficult, but he's determined to succeed.<br /><br />It's also important to avoid the deferred life plan. I've pointed out in the past that entrepreneurship is unlikely to lead to wealth, so you should only do it if it makes you happy:<br /><br />http://chrisyeh.blogspot.com/2010/07/entrepreneurship-is-about-happiness-not.htmlChrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00927628412285314176noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2460005.post-23915499262059222832012-05-12T06:06:10.791-07:002012-05-12T06:06:10.791-07:00Your theory is interesting, but it is based on you...Your theory is interesting, but it is based on your experience of a small sub set of startups (venture-backed internet-enabled companies), in a certain region in a highly publicized segment of the nation's overall economy. <br /><br />However, when it comes to the larger economy, according to the Kauffman Foundation (who has lots of research on the demographics of entrepreneurs), the average age of an entrepreneur is 39 and there are 2X the number of entrepreneurs over age 50 than under age of 25. <br /><br />In some industries, age matters. A decade or two of developing the network of decision makers who can facilitate a roll out of a new product (or concept) is more critical than the cool idea in some industries. <br /><br />That said, other than the ageist context of your advice, I agree with it. <br /><br />Now is the time to start -- no matter what your age.<br /><br />Likewise, now is the time to realize that life is short -- so perhaps you should also start living, and not just working, also.Rex Hammockhttp://rexblog.comnoreply@blogger.com