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| 1 minute read
Reposted from Taylor English Insights

50-something is the new 20 something

Close your eyes and what is the first thing you see when I say the word "Start-Up"?

If you are like most people, the picture of a millennial drinking a latte in a hip co-working space, with headphones on and working in front of their laptop covered in stickers on the exterior case. Well, according to recent studies, that may not be the case anymore. 

Statistically speaking, many of the most successful entrepreneurs who are building start-ups are in their 40s, 50s and even 60s.

Why is that you might ask? It actually goes back to the cliche saying "if I knew then what I know now." What this really boils down to is that as entrepreneurs gain life experiences, and a few critical things happen: 

  • the skills (soft and hard) necessary to make decisions, execute, manage and lead improve, 
  • their knowledge increases making them a subject matter expertise, and 
  • given they have had winning seasons and losing seasons their mindset shifts.

There are a host of other factors which could impact this - for instance, usually, as people gain age, their network increases (more money to invest in the start-up) and the net worth of their network increases (making fundraising easier). 

So, what are you waiting for? 

A 50-year-old founder is twice as likely to build a thriving enterprise that has either an IPO or a successful acquisition as a 30-year-old founder.

Tags

melfi_michael, emerging companies, corporate and business, venture capital, crowdfunding, fundraising, entrepreneurship, insights