Don’t trust anyone over 30
James Tuckerman, Editor-In-Chief, Anthill Magazine
When people pick up Anthill for the first time, they often ask, “Is Anthill just for young entrepreneurs?” My answer is a resounding, “No.”
Anthill is not for young entrepreneurs.
Rather, it is for people young in mindset (irrespective of age).
I then get asked, “But isn’t entrepreneurship a young person’s game?”
To begin answering this question, here’s a snapshot of our readership…
As you can see, a clear majority are over 35. And further, these statistics only represent the people who subscribe online.
There seems to be a misconception that innovation is only for minds untethered by the binds of experience.
Living legends, who spawned vast empires from dorm-rooms and suburban garages, such as Gates, Jobs, Brin and Page, perpetuate the idea. And media outlets (including Anthill) love to spruik the success of young gun entrepreneurs.
Why wouldn’t we!
But, if that’s the case, if entrepreneurship is only for the young, why are our statistics so back to front?
In the words of WIRED Magazine:
The twentysomething Web prodigies are fun and all, but the veteran visionaries will save the world.
A recent study by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation surveyed 652 US-born CEOs and heads of product development who founded high-tech firms in the boom (and bust) years of 1995 to 2005 and discovered that both the average and median ages were 39 - far older than the mythic dorm-room visionary.
What’s more, the chronologically advanced are especially successful at solving the problems that we desperately need solved:
Mature entrepreneurs tend to launch startups that require huge amounts of capital - biotech companies, energy firm, outfits that make expensive hardware. Then, to take their innovation to market, they have to navigate complex entrenched industries, which requires connections.
Whereas the fearless (and perhaps naive) young’ens will not hesitate to throw their attention at a cool, new social networking app, because the startup costs are so low, while the rewards are so great (apparently), the older folks seem stuck with the heavy lifting - solar energy, health tech, energy efficient transport etc.
Whitney Houston once crooned, “I believe the children are our future.” Maybe she, too, had it back to front.
Tags: culture, gen y, Innovation, startups, youth
November 13th, 2008 at 10:29 am
Ha - my wife told me the other day that at 37 I need to change my bio (which reads Justin is one of Australia’s leading young…) I refuse!
November 13th, 2008 at 11:13 am
your only as young as the woman (or man) you feel. if that is the case then i’m ageless but open to offers.
jokes aside! for an entreprenuer (under or older than 30) to ensure that they get a broad perspective for healthy debate, I’d say they’d need to have people around them with contrasting experience and talents.
i.e. someone younger should have access to people who have been there done that. likewise older entreprenuers will network with people that see through less traditional eyes.
November 13th, 2008 at 11:41 am
I turned 30 a few months ago and yipee - about then business went through the roof. Maybe there is something in that
November 13th, 2008 at 11:53 am
Thank you for realising we still have a place in the world of business.
Being in your 12% category - we didn’t have the opportunity to do what we do now, when we were in our 20’s. The world was a different place back then. (not bad, not good - just different)
The wisdom that comes with maturity (and age) has shown us the mistakes that ‘our generation’ have made. We now have the time, the patience and the opportunity to make some corrections.
It’s the risk we take - that’s why we’re called entrepreneurs!
November 13th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Good stuff James. I was 53 when I rolled the dice…and it worked back in 1997. I agree age is not the issue. If you have the courage of your convictions and back your self, then just do it! ….no caveats, right!
November 13th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
I say get in as soon as you can, and stay in for as long as you can. So if that rings a bell for you because you are in your 20’s then great. I believe you need time in the trenches of entrepreneurship to learn the lessons necessary.
That having been said, someone who is managing their risk can do it later in life, and in many cases better, more professionally and with some perspective on any successes and failures.
At the end of the day it’s up to you even in the twilight years (remember Col Sanders), its about having a sense of purpose and intent relevant to your own opportunity and how passionate you feel about going forward with it.
November 13th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Well I am certainly in the 12% segment & am now involved in my 4th business venture since I started my first at 33. The main thing is to ‘do the time’ as someone said ‘in the trenches’ which can mean a lot of blood, sweat & tears along the way with no absolute guarantees of success. There only a mythical few that achieve wealth with minimum effort much as the one-hit-wonders have done in the music industry over the years.
November 13th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
You go up a lot of dry gullies before you find water…
Or to put it another way: before Edison found out how a lightbulb worked, he found a lot of ways it didn’t work.
Pushing 40, but still finding out how ‘it’ doesn’t work…