

Why old people make better entrepreneurs than young ones - cbcase
http://www.slate.com/id/2278383/

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krschultz
I'm 22, and I'm currently starting a business.

My dad is 61, he's currently starting a business.

My company is very small scale because I have limited capital. I'm investing
<$2k for now. I'm creating a relatively simple product but the bulk of my work
is going into software development and marketing online.

His company is using a contract manufacturer, about 2 million bucks, and
really doesn't break any new technical ground. Their products are better than
the current market leader, but have existed for a few years. He is bringing
new marketing to the process, but most importantly changing the distribution
channels. He has contacts at all the current market leading distributors and
retailers (he was previously the EVP of the market leader) and is bringing on
about 5 full time sales guys to go out and win business.

So the scale is completely different, the reason we think we can win is
different (he is focusing on business, I'm focusing on product), but we do
have a lot in common.

Both of us are not taking that much risk. I'm working a day job, he has enough
in the bank to be retired and is using other people's money. Both of us are
working insane hours (he probably is working more than I am because he has a
bunch of employees depending on him, I just have myself). He is doing it full
time, I am doing it as a sideproject for now.

Neither approach is better or worse, they are just different. The good news is
that you can start a business anytime between age 22 and 62 (and younger and
older I'm sure). The other good news is that we both enjoy it more than
anything else we've done working for other people, so that never gets old. And
you can bring enthusiasm to a new venture even if you have been in that
industry for 40 years.

~~~
Mz
My sons are 21 and 23. I'm 45. We all three want to start something of our own
(well, they want to start something together as a team, I want to do something
myself). I hope we all three succeed. So I hope you are right and age is
largely irrelevant.

Good luck to both you and your dad. And thanks for sharing.

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dmitri1981
Two points that I think are worth making

1) When someone in early twenties sets up a successful business it is
considerably more newsworthy and is far more likely to get attention than
someone in say their 40's, thus distorting public preception.

2) Once you get into your 50's your career options narrow dramatically. You
become too expensive, less flexible and potential employers may feel that you
are 'stuck in your ways'. Therefore entrepreneurship may in actual fact be a
necessity.

~~~
harshaw
heck, your career options can narrow dramatically in your 30's. Especially if
you have a startup background with titles like founder, CEO, etc.

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sayemm
Jim Clark was 50 when he co-founded Netscape with Marc Andreessen. And he was
37 when he first got in the game and started SGI.

Mark Pincus was 41 when he started Zynga. Mark Cuban was in his late-30s when
he started what would become Broadcast.com and Mike Bloomberg was about 40
when he started Bloomberg.

Just a few names/ages off the top of my head, though we could obviously name
just as many extraordinary entrepreneurs who proved themselves in their
20s/early 30s.

Age matters little for entrepreneurs, I think. What really does though is the
amount of time you have and just how much of it you're willing to put in to
make something happen.

~~~
saurik
I feel you are discounting (with your concluding sentence) the emotions that
are at work while dealing with the millions of negotiations at play while
starting a company, whether it be for something as simple as "getting a good
price on bandwidth" to something as complex as "getting a good valuation on
our stock".

Even day-to-day operations involve a lot of emotions, such as managing
feedback from users. When you start dealing with tons of customers, eventually
the situation will come up that you answer the phone and there is an irate
user on the other end screaming at you.

Even when you have zero users, you are going to need to make really tough
decisions inside the company regarding who is working on it and how much they
are being compensated (whether it be for stock or for equity).

As I've gotten older (I'm 29 now), I've seen a dramatic change in my abilities
in these regards, abilities that I expect (based on discussions I've had with
40-50 year old people who advise me) will hopefully continue to improve over
the next decade or two (until my brain starts to turn to mush, which of course
will start to happen, making me sad).

Of course, some people manage to be good at this when they are very young, and
some people simply suck at this until they are very old, but I seriously doubt
that this incredibly vital skill is something that anyone doesn't get much
better at as they get older, whether they are actively trying to or not.

~~~
sayemm
I'm 25 and I've founded two startups in the past; I know exactly what you're
talking about regarding the emotional roller coaster.

But I greatly disagree that age somehow naturally helps you deal with this.
The _only_ thing that does help you deal with it is experience, plain and
simple. That's why it helps if you start when you're younger.

If my father (who's 51) decided to start a company tomorrow he'd feel uneasy
and make way more mistakes than I would simply because he's never been through
it before.

~~~
saurik
I do not disagree with this, but will state the following "in response": I
believe there is a lot of overlap in the things you learn from running a
business as running a family, giving your father a lot to teach you about
running a business from his many further years of experience in those areas
(and consequently I believe his first year of entrepreneurship would be
smoother than yours, even if your 26th were smoother than his first).

~~~
sayemm
I agree, I think it's because life exp of any kind greatly helps for
confidence and leadership in running a company as well.

But I still think there's no better way to learn the game than to just go out
there and do it... make mistakes, learn/improve, and keep iterating. No one
becomes a great entrepreneur overnight; and certainly a lot of those guys I
mentioned (Mark Cuban especially) went through a lot of failure before making
their first big hit.

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PaulHoule
I didn't have the feeling of urgency to bring something into the world when I
was in my 20's. The feeling of mortality you get as you get older is a real
motivator.

I suspect that those who want young people to drop out of school and start
businesses are Pied Pipers running yet another "chew 'em up and spit 'em out"
operation like McKinsey or grad school.

~~~
bennyk
I really have to agree here. I have several successful companies and invested
in myself.I am one who lost most in the real estate market.I because of my
previous entrepreneurial experience believe in myself. No school can give you
that only life experience. I took all the plus and minuses of the previous
business and develop a real for profit business that meets all the things I
want a business to do for me. Also, I can for see problems easier and have
more patience for somethings and less for some others. but I know the
difference. Also, because this is a later life business I have an urgency that
I think younger entrepreneurs don't always have this makes my concentration
stronger, at least for me.

------
dustingetz
old entrepreneurs used to be young entrepreneurs. of course they're better.

------
te_platt
It just takes a while to make all of the mistakes you need to learn from to be
successful. I think I'm getting close...

~~~
barrydahlberg
That thought was your next mistake!

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brc
Young people bring enthusiasm, new thinking and energy to a startup. They are
at a place where they can risk everything and it doesn't matter. They've also
not learnt any bad work habits.

Old people bring experience, wisdom, capital and connections to a startup.
They either have risk capital or have decided to pursue a riskier path in
order to get larger returns.

It's two routes to the same goal and I would argue that it comes down to a mix
between the individual, the business, the opportunity and luck. I doubt age
has that strong an influence.

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richardw
The impact of a group of young people who have tried to create a company while
they had little to lose, will be significant.

No matter whether they succeed or not. In 10 years measure them against their
friends and see who has had the most impact.

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alain94040
_In the startup world, there is a lot of love for young founders, because many
believe only they can be disruptive and come up with innovative startups. As I
get older, I should resent such a preconception, but I agree with it.

And now I understand why it is so: the more experience I gain, the better I am
at knowing right away if something is going to work or not. But what I gain in
efficiency, I lose in innovation. _

[http://blog.fairsoftware.net/2010/12/16/young-and-
clueless-a...](http://blog.fairsoftware.net/2010/12/16/young-and-clueless-an-
unexpected-recipe-for-innovation/)

------
sp4rki
I'd argue that it's the other way around. Older entrepreneurs have more
monetary and social resources with which to start a company. Younger
entrepreneurs make up on this distinction by shooting for the stars. The fact
that older people tend to just want to have a profitable business, while the
younger ones tend to want to change the world (at least in their perception)
makes for bigger risks with bigger rewards. That's not to say some younglings
aren't in it only to get rich, nor that some oldlings aren't in it to change
the world of course.

------
plnewman
There is still hope for me!

