Age and Entrepreneurship

When ever the mention of ‘starting‘ an enterprise crops up, the common advice that flows in from all directions read, “first earn something, stabilise yourself and then venture out to take the risk“.

On careful analysis, the popular misconceptions that can be inferred from this advice are:

A business venture is risk.
True. But don’t miss the adjective calculate. A business venture is always a calculated risk. If it is not a calculated one, it is not a business venture.

Stability leads to better initiation.
This defies the very basic theory of inertia. Inertia can be defined as an inherent quality of an object to always resist a change in its state – be it rest or motion.

Going by this theory, I cannot fathom how an individual with a stable lifestyle will be better prepared to take the dynamism involved in a business venture head-on. A stable person will resist to come out of his comfort zone and break the shackles.

On the other hand, a less stable and dynamic spirit will be in a better position to manage the turbulence associated with the venture.

And for those who believe in experience accounting for success, have a look at the list below (source PluGGd.in)

Age 17-33: Early Executors

• Age 17: Ingvar Kampard (1943) started IKEA
• Age 18: Ted Waitt (1985) started Gateway
• Age 19: Michael Dell (1983) started Dell; Joyce Hall (1910) started Hallmark Cards
• Age 20: Mark Zuckerberg (2004 ) started Facebook
• Age 21: Bill Gates (1976 ) started Microsoft; Steve Jobs (1976) started Apple
• Age 22: Walt Disney (1923) started Disney, Richard Branson (1972) started Virgin
• Age 23: Vishal Gondar (1999) started India Games
• Age 24: Karsanbhai Patel (1969) started Nirma
• Age 25: Larry Page (1998) started Google; Kiran Mazumdar(1978) started Biocon
• Age 26: Uday Kotak (1985) started Kotak Mahindra; Phil Knight (1964) started Nike
• Age 27: Jerry Yang (1995) started Yahoo; Sam Walton (1945) started Wal-Mart
• Age 28: Pierre Omidyar (1995) started eBay; Ralph Lauren (1967) started Polo
• Age 29 : Rajendra Pawar (1981) started NIIT; Nolan Bushnell (1972) started Atari
• Age 30: Jeff Bezos (1994 ) started Amazon
• Age 31 : Shiv Nadar (1976) started HCL; Ramesh Chandra (1972) started Unitech
• Age 32 : Oprah Winfrey (1986) started Oprah; Ross Perot (1962) started EDS
• Age 33 : Warren Buffet (1963) started Berkshire; Larry Ellison (1977) started Oracle

Age 34-60+: Late Bloomers

• Age 34: Charles Schwab(1971) started Schwab; S. Shetty(1993) started AllCargo
• Age 35: NR Murthy (1981) started Infosys; March Benioff (1999) started Sales Force
• Age 36: Dhirubhai Ambani (1958) started Reliance
• Age 37: J Mckinsey(1926) started Mckinsey; Dave Thomas(1969) started Wendy
• Age 38: Jim Clark (1982) started SGI
• Age 39: M. Bloomberg (1981) started Bloomberg; Gorden Moore (1968) started Intel
• Age 40: Martin Sorell(1985) started WPP; George Soros (1970) started Quantum Fund
• Age 41 : Raman Roy ( 2000) Spectramind; Thomas Siebel (1993) started Siebel
• Age 42 : Ajit Balakrishnan(1995) started Rediff; Reed Hastings(1997) started Netflix
• Age 43 : Richard Egan(1979) started EMC; Naresh Goyal(1993) started Jet Airways
• Age 44: Jerry Rao (1998) started Mphasis; Leo Burnett (1925) started Leo Burnett
• Age 45 : Marry Kay Ash (1963) started Marry Kay
• Age 46 : Capt. Gopinath(1997) started Deccan; Arthur Little(1909) started AD Little
• Age 47: Rana Kapur (2004) started Yes Bank; G R Naidu (1985) started Amar Raja
• Age 48: Bruce Henderson (1963) started BCG; KP Singh (1979) started DLF
• Age 49: Vikram Talwar (1999) started EXL; Graeme Clark (1983) started Cochlear
• Age 50: Leo Goodwin (1936) GEICO; Bernard Marcus (1979) started Home Depot
• Age 51: Ashok Soota(1999) started Mindtree; Taikichiro(1955) started Mori buildings
• Age 52 : Ray Kroc (1954) started Mcdonald; DS Barar (2004) started GVK Bio
• Age 53: Barry Diller (1995) started IAC
• Age 54: Prannoy Roy (2003) started NDTV
• Age 55 : TMA Pai (1953) started Manipal University
• Age 56: Anita Crook ( 2005) started Pouchee
• Age 57: J Marriott(1957) started Marriott Hotel; J McGraw(1917) started McGraw Hill
• Age 58: Orville(1969)started Redenbacher; A Hammer(1956)started Occidental Petro
• Age 59 : Barbara Miller (1995) started Miller Papers
• Age 60: Jack Fenimore (1983) started Mid Com
• Age 61: Carmen Jones (1977) started Kids Corner
• Age 62: Col. Sanders(1952) started KFC; Joseph Glidden(1875) started Barb Fence
• Age 63: Henry Kaiser (1945) started Kaiser Permanente
• Age 64 : Thomas Duck (1977) started Ugly Duck
• Age 65: Capt. Krishnan Nair (1988) started Leela Hotels
• Age 66 : Jagdish Khattar (2009) started Carnation

It is not that late bloomers won’t succeed, but just that there is no reason for anyone to dissuade the early executors from venturing out.