Imagine you are a venture capitalist reading a well-crafted pitch deck from a 26-year-old founder, brimming with energy, and talking a mile a minute about disrupting a trillion-dollar industry. It's a familiar scene. Now flip that a little and imagine you are sitting across from a founder who is 55, measured in tone, armed with decades of industry experience, and quietly confident in their execution plan.
If you're like 95% of VCs, the money goes to the 24-year-old.
This isn't just anecdotal. Startlingly, nearly all early-stage venture capital flows to founders under 30. Yet, the data tells a radically different story: the average successful founder is in their 40s, and those over 50 are three times more likely to build companies that reach IPO or exit.
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Further Reading & Sources
[1] MIT Sloan DocumentID=6212 http://mitsloan.mit.edu/shared/ods/documents?PublicationDocumentID=6212
[2] The Age of Entrepreneurs - A Statistical Look at Business Ownership ... https://www.businessinitiative.org/statistics/demographics/age-distribution/
[3] A Study of 2.7 Million Startups Found the Ideal Age to Start a ... https://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/a-study-of-27-million-startups-found-ideal-age-to-start-a-business-and-its-much-older-than-you-think.html
[4] Why you should wait until your 40s to become an entrepreneur ... https://www.weforum.org/stories/2018/08/why-you-should-wait-until-your-40s-to-become-an-entrepreneur-according-to-a-new-study/
[5] Proof That The Most Successful Entrepreneurs Are Older Ones https://www.forbes.com/sites/nextavenue/2018/08/05/proof-that-the-most-successful-entrepreneurs-are-older-ones/
[6] https://www.boldin.com/retirement/success-later-in-life/
[7] How Do Older Entrepreneurs Compare to Younger Business Owners? https://www.uschamber.com/co/grow/thrive/middle-aged-entrepreneurs-success
[8] Self-employed people over 60 hits record high | Enterprise Nation https://www.enterprisenation.com/learn-something/self-employed-people-over-60-hits-record-high/
[9] The Average Age Of A Successful Startup Founder Is 45 https://www.entrepreneur.com/en-ae/entrepreneurs/the-average-age-of-a-successful-startup-founder-is-45/345884
[10] Is Age Just a Number? Big Wins by Older Entrepreneurs https://www.visualcapitalist.com/is-age-just-a-number-big-wins-from-older-entrepreneurs/
[11] Older Entrepreneurs Outperform Younger Founders—Shattering ... https://www.forbes.com/sites/kmehta/2022/08/23/older-entrepreneurs-outperform-younger-foundersshattering-ageism/
[12] Research: The Average Age of a Successful Startup Founder Is 45 https://hbr.org/2018/07/research-the-average-age-of-a-successful-startup-founder-is-45
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