Instigator Blog - Latest Comments in Is 30 Too Old To Be An Entrepreneur?

Re: Is 30 Too Old To Be An Entrepreneur?

richandrich — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 00:57:53 -0000

I am a 39 year old married military nurse and mother of three wonderful children. I have been a nurse for 10 years and I am really loving my online business and traffic generation. My goal is to retire in 3 1/2 years from the military. I want to do PTA and other great stuff with my son who is currently 5. I want my online business to be in the six figure income range.

Desiree Richardson
Rich and Rich Entrepreneurs
http://richandrich.ning.com

Re: Is 30 Too Old To Be An Entrepreneur?

Tim — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:35:31 -0000

Will, you make some interesting points when you said that 32 was the perfect startup age. However, it's only the perfect startup age because you actually started as a teenage, right?

I wonder if a decade of learning is built into the author's thought process.

Thanks,

Tim
Business Planning Software

Re: Is 30 Too Old To Be An Entrepreneur?

DaveOlson — Thu, 24 May 2007 18:54:07 -0000

Interesting article Ben... I started my first business when I was 14. Not much, just retouching old photos. I started my last company four years ago at 41. I've had several businesses in between.

Age is all in your head (and your hair). My dad retired at 45. He's been old ever since... no disrespect. He just stopped trying new things. I think being an entrepreneur keeps you young and in that sense, youth is a requirement for being an entrepreneur.

Re: Is 30 Too Old To Be An Entrepreneur?

Derrich — Thu, 24 May 2007 11:21:48 -0000

No way. 30s are the new 20s. =)

Re: Is 30 Too Old To Be An Entrepreneur?

Jeff O'Hara — Wed, 23 May 2007 09:42:24 -0000

Your never too old to be an Entrepreneur as long as your have passion for what your doing. Entrepreneur's break the rules and the rules were meant to be broken.

-Jeff
http://blog.zemote.com

Re: Is 30 Too Old To Be An Entrepreneur?

Ben Yoskovitz — Tue, 22 May 2007 22:36:33 -0000

Different industries will have different norms for the age of their entrepreneurs. Web 2.0 companies (and I'm not afraid of using the term) are generally started by younger folks...but in other industries or with other styles of companies the profile of the "typical entrepreneur" could certainly be different.

I'm not familiar with the Colonel's history (and not going to check on it right now) but had he started a lot of other businesses before he nailed the secret recipe for fried chicken?

Re: Is 30 Too Old To Be An Entrepreneur?

Ripley Norta — Tue, 22 May 2007 22:20:50 -0000

I hope 30 isn't too old. I'm just about to hit 42 (where the question to the answer is revealed hopefully) and I'm just starting on my entrepreneurial journey.

My guess as to why (at least one reason why) there are fewer older entrepreneurs is that by the time they get past thirty, their businesses have become established. They have become business men and women and no longer fit into the category.

Re: Is 30 Too Old To Be An Entrepreneur?

Daniel Sitter — Tue, 22 May 2007 22:19:40 -0000

Any age is the best age if you have a great idea and enough passion and persistence to make it happen! Entrepreneural thinking has no age constraints.

Bill gates was 17 when he started Microsoft and Colonel Harland Sanders was 65 when he started Kentucky Fried Chicken!

Re: Is 30 Too Old To Be An Entrepreneur?

Ben Yoskovitz — Tue, 22 May 2007 21:27:05 -0000

I think Rob is right - that the question is getting muddled, the debate (if you can even call it that one) somewhat messy and distracting.

I do think some of the issues coming out of it are interesting, like Clay's belief that starting young is best because you have less to unlearn. That's really what stuck out of me as I was following the thread of blog posts on the subject.

Re: Is 30 Too Old To Be An Entrepreneur?

Leah Maclean — Tue, 22 May 2007 19:58:18 -0000

Well Ben I'm just north of 40 (10 years old than you to be exact) and my plan is still to be an entrepreneur when I'm in my 70s. I wonder what Doc Searls would say about this.

Re: Is 30 Too Old To Be An Entrepreneur?

Alexander Kharlamov — Tue, 22 May 2007 19:45:27 -0000

Let's not forget Colonel Sanders, who started KFC at the young age of 62 :-)

Honestly, I don't believe in any restrictions like that. Age is just a number. I'm 25, but I see people that defy age stereotypes over and over again. There's people in their teens (not even 20's) being CEO's, people in their late 30's-40's only caring about tonight's baseball game and beer...

Ben, I agree with the part when you say you can succeed as an entrepreneur at any age. But just like that, you can fail at any age as well.

Re: Is 30 Too Old To Be An Entrepreneur?

Ben Yoskovitz — Tue, 22 May 2007 17:22:25 -0000

Lee - I would tend to agree that web entrepreneurs very often live in a bubble of their own with sites like digg or reddit, but I'm not sure how that's entirely relevant to the age discussion going on.

There are some interesting thoughts about age, entrepreneurship, when is the best time, what it takes, what companies / people are being funded, etc. Those aren't all thoughts in my one post, but overall with this discussion taking place...

Re: Is 30 Too Old To Be An Entrepreneur?

Lee Semel — Tue, 22 May 2007 17:17:13 -0000

Honestly, who really gives a s---? Web entrepreneurs spend way too much time reading sites like Digg and Reddit and pondering whether or not they can do the thing they want/plan to do, rather than just going ahead and doing it. I doubt that anyone's age is all the sudden going to magically handicap them.

Re: Is 30 Too Old To Be An Entrepreneur?

Matt Keegan — Tue, 22 May 2007 15:51:35 -0000

Age is relative, although energy isn't always so.

I am 48, having started by business nearly five years ago. There are a lot of people in their 40s, 50s, and 60s who are starting their own businesses, some web based, although the attention seems to be on the twenty-something crowd for the most part.

If you ever think that you are too old to get something going, then you are. I have met people who are washed up at 40, but I know people in their 70s who are creative, interesting, and always willing to try new things.

Re: Is 30 Too Old To Be An Entrepreneur?

Wil Schroter — Tue, 22 May 2007 13:43:04 -0000

I'm 32 as well and it's the perfect age to start. You've still got stamina and yet you have the wisdom of avoiding the mistakes you make in your 20's. I'm on my 9th startup and having started my first at 19, there were just so many mistakes that I made not because I wasn't smart enough, but because I just didn't know any better. This time around it's a million times easier and faster. It's like going to high school all over again while knowing exactly how to navigate.

Re: Is 30 Too Old To Be An Entrepreneur?

Paul Enderson — Tue, 22 May 2007 09:30:01 -0000

I bloody well hope 30 isn't too old to strike it rich! I've only just hit the big three-zero, and I've got my fingers in more pies than I care to mention - so if 30 is too old then I'm screwed! ;)