How old were you when you became an entrepreneur?
Yesterday, I was reading Fred Wilson’s blog A VC and he had two interesting posts called “The Mid Life Entrepreneur Crisis” here and here. He was wondering where all the entrepreneur were that were in their forties and said that the prime time for entrepreneur’s is in their thirties. This was supported by this post from Valleywag with the graphic of Union Square Ventures funded entrepreneurs and the age of their CEO’s. It seemed to have almost everyone in their thirties, a few in their twenties and one in their fifties and no one in their forties.
I think this is totally tunnel vision and does not reflect the true entrepreneurial makeup. This reflects those getting funding and it is probably a convergence of the level of experience, available energy, ability to take enough risk with enough time to recover and also the naive tolerance to put up with the “pressure” (read b.s.) that comes along with bringing in VC’s. If you are in your forties you most likely will have a family and large financial commitments so if haven’t started a venture you might be on a funded management team and waiting for your exit to do your own thing when the kids leave the house. If you are in your fifties the kids might be gone or you might be a serial entrepreneur.
People start ventures at all ages and it really comes down to when it “feels right”. I can’t pin it down to a scientific explanation. Maybe because I am an “F” on the Myers-Briggs and make too many judgments with my gut and by the seat of my pants.
I think those of us who are entrepreneurs are hard wired for it and I will bet that if you think back started your first entrepreneurial ventures you were probably very young.
So how old was I when I became an entrepreneur? 11 years old.
I started my first business when I was 11 and my lawn mowing bought be a great baseball card collection that I will pass down to my kids (if I ever have any). Throughout my life I have always been looking for new venture ideas and ways to create a monster business.
I finally made a formal break when I was 29 years old and haven’t looked back.
So how old where you when you became an entrepreneur?
I became an entrepreneur when I was 9 – and haven’t looked back since. I knew from the get-go that I was hard wired to be an inventor. While the road wasn’t always easy, it has been rewarding both personally and professionally. I too believe that I am “hard wired” for this!
Your blog is definately a great source of inspiration for me. Now I am 29 years old and looking my ways to be an entrepreneur.
I also will be looking forward to seeing from other entrepreneur had started started their journey.
Nice post
Keep it up.
-spiker
http://www.seductioncommunitydb.com
Steve, if you count my lemonade stand, I was 11. :) Of course, the kid who rode by on his bicycle and threw eggs at me pretty much squashed those entrepreneurial dreams, but they quickly resurfaced when I was old enough to babysit. I opened my marketing/copywriting/design firm at age 34. I wrote a post recently about how kids’ entrepreneurial dreams should be nurtured, not ‘educated out of them’ as seems to be happening. So I think if owning a business is a middle-age thing, it’s only because it takes that long to get the whole “have to work for someone else” idea beaten back into submission! :) ~ Janet
At 5, I started my first business selling candies. The candy store was far for most kids my age, so every week I would buy the candies at wholesale price and sell them locally for profit.
Then, at age 10, there was a “Jurassic Park” fever going around. I coupled up with a bunch of friends and we began manufacturing and selling Stegosaurous figures using a plastic dye for about a dollar each. We sold colored or sprayed figures for a little more. Our costs were minimal, and profits huge.
At 12, my dad printed about 500 birthday cards that just needed some coloring. Me and my siblings sold quiet a lot of “homemade birthday cards”.
I’ve started several businesses in the 22 years that I’ve lived. My current startup is http://www.Shuzak.com, a social network for geeks :)
- Jawad
Great post! I’ll take the other side of this discussion in that I think that you don’t need to be hard-wired to be an entrepreneur. A lot of successful entrepreneurs come out of corporate America. I’m one of these guys. I always felt I had the spirit in me but was just trained from an early age to go work for a bank.
My latest memory of my entrepreneurial spirit was back in college when I was at a College football game. It was blazing hot and the snack stand was closed for some mysterious reason. I drove to Wegmans (best supermarket ever!) and bought cases of water, ice, and bins (all for about $20). I went back to the game, iced down my waters, and started selling them 3 at a time for $2 each to very appreciate spectators. I turned a hefty profit that afternoon, with enough cash to buy me and my fraternity brothers multiple cases of our favorite cheap beer for the night. Best part was that all my friends were making fun of me until fans started throwing money at me for water. Hilarious.
Spiker, your word are very kind. I try and write something every day that is both educational and inspirational for everyone. If I get off track I am depending on all of you to keep me on the straight and narrow.
Hearing from Jawar, Barbara and Janet it seems the median age for starting as an entrepreneur is about 10 and not 30. I would tend to agree that it is always there even we don’t act on it until later.
JTrieber, I would agree that some of the best come from corporate america and that is where some of the best management team talent comes from. The most talented are able to make the adjustment which can be a bit of a shock.
We need more people like you bringing your experience to the entrepreneurs who need great leadership examples.
Thanks for your kind words Steve. The transition for me has actually been pretty seamless, maybe because I never really developed that “corporate mentality” in the first place. Anyway, I’ve actually started blogging about our entrepreneurial experience we are going through to start OnCard Marketing, our new venture. I’ve tried to share all our mis-steps and pitfalls and any lessons learned so that others don’t have to make the same mistakes. You (and any interested readers) can check the blog out at http://www.oncardblog.com. Keep up the great posts! JT
Interesting trend.
I’d suspect that it has something to do with the expectations that in your twenties you are supposed to be finding a job and working.
But this is starting to show significant change. Many twenty-somethings and thirty-somethings are saying “No” to corporate america to pave an entrepreneurial path that showcases their passion and gives them a flexible life.