When I think of an entrepreneur, I think of someone forward-thinking, creative, energetic, and relentless. I also think of someone forty and up.<\/p>\n\n
What?<\/em> Our stereotypes don\u2019t run that direction, do they? We\u2019re more likely to think of Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg dropping out of college than someone who graduated twenty years before and who\u2019s now starting a new venture. But that\u2019s what the numbers say.<\/p>\n Researchers at Duke and Harvard studied startups earning at least $1 million and discovered the founders\u2019 median age was thirty-nine. \u201cTwice as many were older than 50 as were younger than 25,\u201d said Vivek Wadhwa<\/a>, who led the research team.<\/p>\n \u201cIn a follow-up project, we studied the backgrounds of 549 successful entrepreneurs in 12 high-growth industries,\u201d Wadhwa said. \u201cThe average and median age of male founders in this group was 40, and a significant proportion were older than 50.\u201d<\/p>\n Almost 30 percent of Americans aged forty-five to sixty-four run their own businesses, according to Scott Shane reporting numbers from the 2011 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor U.S. Report<\/a>. For people thirty-four and younger, it\u2019s not even 6 percent.<\/p>\n Despite these numbers, people assume that the young are the most likely to drive innovation and business growth. The result is that investors entrust money in untried executives, while the people with the most to contribute sometimes doubt they have anything left to offer.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been entrepreneurial my whole life, but the truth is I\u2019m in my prime now<\/em> and doing better work today<\/em> than ever before. And that\u2019s true for the majority of entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n The reasons are simple. They all come down to one thing\u2014resources. As a rule, we acquire the resources we need to succeed as we get into our middle years. Think of it as an advantage in capital. Middle-aged entrepreneurs have more:<\/p>\nWhat the Numbers Tell Us<\/h3>\n
The Main Reason \u2018Age\u2019 Means \u2018Edge\u2019<\/h3>\n
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What Does It Mean for You?<\/h3>\n