Is Your Entrepreneurial Peak Age 26?
Last week the popular Silicon Valley blog, Valleywag, put together a list of the hottest technology entrepreneurs and how old they were when they started their companies. The result was that most of them were in their 20s. Some venture capitalists are also now suggesting that they will not fund anyone who is over 30 years old and trying to launch a new technology company.
The blog notes that most of the biggest technology success stories have been made by founders who were in their 20s and that the peak age was 26.
Bill Gates was 20 when he started Microsoft. Steve Jobs was 21 when he created Apple with Steve Wozniak (25). The Google guys were both 25 when they launched their business.
The hypothesis is that while older entrepreneurs mail fail less often because of the experience they have gained, they are also less likely to achieve spectacularly positive results.
Having just turned 27 on the weekend am I now over the hill?
Evan Carmichael
Evan CarmichaelYoungEntrepreneur.com Blog Manager
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8 Comments so far
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I started my company when I was 19 (now 21) so looks like i’m more likely to be successfully then my older counterparts. Interesting.
Ghee I guess the pressure is on to rule the world by age 26.
There’s some pretty big companies there that were started by the 30+ bunch. I expect there’s pro’s and con’s to being both under and over 30…
Evan, if you’re over the hill, than I must have fallen off completely… lol. (I’m 29)
No, Kernal Sanders started when he was 70. and made KFC
The young ones are fearless. Like learning to ski, a second language. There is something to say about not knowing better. The older executives and/or entrepreneurs I know say they wish they took risk earlier rather than “learning” They also wish they learned how to network earlier which I think is a natural skill many entrepreneurs have.
[…] Young Entrepreneurs Check out the founders age of some of our most exciting companies. Many entrepreneurs start after a career of learning, earning and hating what they do before taking real risk. Some are super young and don’t know better. They are fearless like kids learning to ski, ride bikes and learn second languages. BTW, I will be interviewing a 19 year old entrepreneur named Ben Casnocha on my Startup Story Radio July 14. Should be interesting! __________________ David Sandusky Your Brand,LLC like an ad agency, but for people Join my LinkedIn network "The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it" - Michelangelo […]
Hey guys,
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