The Old Gold Creating High-Value Startups Worldwide

The Old Gold Creating High-Value Startups Worldwide

What is the ideal age to start a business? Young age or when you get older? The world's top startup ecosystems mainly Silicon Valley worship the young as the 21st-century role model for creativity, but a new report that published recently, reflect that when people get older, they become more creative and productive and can think differently too.

The Entrepreneurial Mindset is not Bound by Age

A research conducted by the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation looked at the demographics of more than 900 businesses (18 – 80 age groups) that have made high-value meaningful, marketable contributions to technology-heavy industries in the US. The study found;

• The overall median age of innovators was 47 years old.
• Only 5.8 per cent individuals were 30 years or younger.
• Innovations peaked between 46-50 age groups.
• At the age of 55, the rate of innovation was the highest.
• After 65, the rate of innovation declined very sharply.

There is one more research that has shown that not only aged people start businesses but they are also more successful than others. This study was conducted by the Kauffman Foundation and covered 652 US-based businesses and disclosed some interesting facts;

• Most of the US-based tech founders started their companies at the age of 39.
• Tech founders holding MBA degrees established companies more quickly than others. They took a maximum of 13 years to be successful.
• Those with PhDs, typically waited for almost 25 years to become successful tech entrepreneurs
• Master's degree holders took 14.7 years.
• Bachelor's degree(s) entrepreneurs took 16.7 years to become established entrepreneurs.

The findings of both these studies were consistent with one another study conducted by the Georgia Institute of Technology and Sadao Nagaoka, the Hitotsubashi University, Japan in 2009 that analyzed the portfolio of 19, 000 inventors in the US and found that 47 was the average age for American inventors.

• More than 20 % inventors were in their fifties.
• More than 10% were 60 or older.

So these reports confirmed that older inventors produced higher value companies. Apart from these studies, several other studies also confirmed that many inventors come up with their best ideas or technology at later stages of their age.

Aged Influencers Dominating the Indian Start-up Ecosystem

There is a long list of aged influencers who are dominating the Indian Startup Ecosystem. Few names that are proving this fact that innovation is not just a young man's game include;

PRANAY CHULET, 43, Co-founder and CEO, Quikr. He founded Quikr in 2008, which today has become a unicorn and claiming more than 30 million unique monthly visitors.

SUDHIR SETHI, 58, Founder & Chairman, IDG Ventures India Advisors Education has seen off a tough fundraising process for IDG after many in the start-up ecosystem had cast doubt on whether VCs could attract large amounts of so-called rupee capital.

GIRISH MATHRUBOOTHAM, 41, Founder and CEO, Freshdesk, a software start-up. He is giving tough competition to the new-age Indian software startups.

SHARAD SHARMA, 52, Co-founder & CEO, BrandSigma; Co-founder, iSpirt. He is known as a champ of the Indian high-tech startup ecosystem.

VANI KOLA, 52, Managing Director, Kalaari Capital Partners. She is one of the most powerful voices in the start-up ecosystem.

HARI MENON, 54, Co-founder and chief executive at BigBasket. He made BigBasket survived during a funding slowdown and emerges as the largest online grocer while many other startups from same domain shut shops.

These are few names. There are a lot of other success stories of aged entrepreneurs especially from industries like Biotech and heavy engineering etc. Moreover, starting a business is a highly personal decision and age is no bar for this.