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The Truth About Entrepreneurs: Twice As Many Are Over 50 As Are Under 25

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Re: The Truth About Entrepreneurs: Twice As Many Are Over 50 As Are Under 25

#11

Post by orangethirty »

jpdoctor wrote: post #3

VCs tend to break investments into two classes: "Better, faster, cheaper" and "Brave New World" The "Brave New World" ideas put 25 year olds on equal/better footing than 50 year olds, since they tend to be everything new. The "Better Faster Cheaper" ideas leave the 50 year-olds with the advantage: They have a better sense of what the market wants, and what features are important/not important, since they've been work…

And that's the fucking truth right there: VCs love to find young stupid (but bright) kids. They are easy to fool, will jump at any opportunity, and most importantly, don't know shit about money. Meaning that they can get them to work for peanuts. That is why the tech industry likes them young.

Re: The Truth About Entrepreneurs: Twice As Many Are Over 50 As Are Under 25

#12

Post by seivan »

pbreit wrote: post #4

Wadhwa must be taken with very large grains of salt as he is relentlessly pushing an agenda which is probably not completely accurate. How are they defining entrepreneur here? Including dry cleaning shops and law practices? And are they having the kind of success as Zuckerberg, Gates, Jobs, Page/Brin, Yang/Filo, Omidyar, Musk, and on and and on and on?

I never trusted a man who poses with arm crossed in a fucking suit for his God damn twitter photo. He changed that recently, but I still don't trust Wadhwa - nor like him.

Re: The Truth About Entrepreneurs: Twice As Many Are Over 50 As Are Under 25

#14

Post by SiVal »

I'm going to guess--I have no proof--that entrepreneurs over 50 tend to be looking for a technology to meet a specific market need that has been eating at them for a long time, while those under 25 are more likely to be looking for a market need they could address with the brand new tech skills they've been developing.

If I'm right, they could make pretty good partners.

Re: The Truth About Entrepreneurs: Twice As Many Are Over 50 As Are Under 25

#15

Post by DavidAdams »

I can't speak to "over 50," but I can speak to "over 40." I founded my first software startup in 1995 while I was still an undergraduate. I had the good fortune of timing it so that after a year and a half of toil and obscurity we hit the wave of the dotcom boom, and I was able to establish myself as a proven serial entrepreneur and have been able to found a series of moderately successful tech companies over the years. I'm 42 now, and I'm currently getting a new startup off the ground with three other co-founders who are also in their early forties. We have the good fortune of all having had at least one big success in our careers, but I can attest that our experience has been valuable, and we haven't had a particularly hard time raising money.

I mention this because I think that there are a lot of people between 40 and 50 right now who are the first generation of true digital natives (for example, I have no idea what it was like to work in a pre-email office). Many of us weathered the dotcom boom and bust. From where I'm sitting, this cohort is quite well equipped to found successful tech companies, despite the fact that we tend to have families and children.

Re: The Truth About Entrepreneurs: Twice As Many Are Over 50 As Are Under 25

#16

Post by bdcravens »

pbreit wrote: post #4

Wadhwa must be taken with very large grains of salt as he is relentlessly pushing an agenda which is probably not completely accurate. How are they defining entrepreneur here? Including dry cleaning shops and law practices? And are they having the kind of success as Zuckerberg, Gates, Jobs, Page/Brin, Yang/Filo, Omidyar, Musk, and on and and on and on?

Most 24 years old never achieve those levels of success either.

$1B+ exits (not all are exits of course, but I'm talking personal financial impact) are a pretty narrow way of defining success. Most people would call anything 7+ figures winning at life, and I'm sure there's tons of those who are 50+.

Re: The Truth About Entrepreneurs: Twice As Many Are Over 50 As Are Under 25

#18

Post by bdcravens »

futhey wrote: post #6

My first reaction is that this makes sense if you're counting restaurant owners, etc. Also, the media isn't going to draw attention to someone of average age doing something average, so the misconception seems expected, although I've met very few 50 year olds hacking away on their Web 2.0 startup.

"Hacking away" is a narrow definition of entrepreneurship.

Re: The Truth About Entrepreneurs: Twice As Many Are Over 50 As Are Under 25

#19

Post by jeremyjh »

DavidAdams wrote: post #15

I can't speak to "over 50," but I can speak to "over 40." I founded my first software startup in 1995 while I was still an undergraduate. I had the good fortune of timing it so that after a year and a half of toil and obscurity we hit the wave of the dotcom boom, and I was able to establish myself as a proven serial entrepreneur and have been able to found a series of moderately successful tech companies over the yea…

I think you and analyst74 make some good points here. It doesn't surprise me at all that VCs are happy to invest in a start-up with founders who have experience like yourself. At your age - that is going to be expected. If you were 42 and spent the last 20 years working in Big Corp - even if you did impressive work - I'm sceptical you'd be on an even-footing with a 25 year old who spent 3 years at Zynga.
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