Bust Myths
Are You Ready to Bust Myths?
We’re excited to help shatter one of the most pervasive business myths: that successful entrepreneurs are overwhelmingly 20-something wunderkinds, like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg. If you’ve been dissuaded from starting your own venture by the age of those savants— or that they’re all men—we’ve got good news for you.
The Reality
If you’ve been dissuaded from starting your own venture by the age of those savants, or that they’re all men, or that it seems as if successful entrepreneurs are just born with a knack and knowledge, we’ve got good news for you. These are all myths:
MYTH – AGE MATTERS
MYTH – GENDER MATTERS
MYTH – ENTREPRENEURS ARE BORN, NOT MADE
The reality is that most successful entrepreneurs are decades older than the 20-something headliners. As for gender, consider this: In 2021, women started 49% of new businesses, a stunning increase from 28% in 2019.
The mean age of startup founders in the U.S. was 42, researchers from MIT, Northwestern, Wharton and the U.S. Census Bureau recently reported in 2019. The average age of founders of the fast-growth unicorns (the 1 in 1,000 fastest growing ventures) was 45.
We’re in awe of all the incredibly talented people and organizations we meet who are focused on achieving their passions through entrepreneurship and innovation.
That’s especially true for 50+ founders. The fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs in history, they’re solving problems that matter as they build success and create wealth.
Despite possessing strong business attributes and a fierce work ethic, entrepreneurs and their companies too often lack certain critical knowledge and experience. Those deficits ultimately sabotage the growth of successful and sustainable businesses.
More Myth-Busting News
A 50-year-old founder is twice as likely to build a successful and sustainable enterprise, having either an IPO or a successful acquisition, as a 30-year-old founder. Moreover, older entrepreneurs rack up more successes than their younger counterparts well into 60s.
And guess what? Most founders weren’t always entrepreneurs. Most successful ones worked corporate or other jobs for years, if not decades, before launching their ventures.
The world is changing rapidly and sweeping away antiquated myths as it does. COVID-19 decimated jobs for many, but it was also responsible for an unprecedented explosion of older entrepreneurs. In 2021, people between 50- 59 accounted for 35% of the startup founders, according to Small Biz Trends. About 60% of people who start small businesses are now between the ages of 40-60, reports National Business Capital.
The trend has been building for years. In 2016, the Kauffman Foundation, which studies entrepreneurship in America, found that entrepreneurs age 55-64 founded the most new ventures of all age cohorts studied in the prior 20 years. So, stop letting old myths get in your way. Build your business and get all the support you need in a community of myth busters. Join Business Authority.
