The golden age of innovation

Interesting research published in Newsweek of 20 August 2010 confirms what we have believed all along. Some of the best entrepreneurial ventures were not started by young wiz kids but were developed and created by older, more mature individuals.

The first paragraph of the piece says “ Despite stereotypes of entrepreneurs as fresh faced youngsters, new research has found that older workers are more likely to innovate than their under 35 counterparts.” It then talks about entrepreneurs like Mark Zuckerberg who founded Facebook at age 19 and Larry Page and Sergey Brin, both 23 when they developed Google

But then says further that “the average founder of a high-tech start-up isn’t a whiz kid but a mature 40-year-old engineer or business type with a spouse and children who simply got tired of working for others.”

Looking at successful South African entrepreneurs the findings are interesting but perhaps somewhat inconclusive. Brian Joffe started Bidvest when he was 41 years old. Anton Rupert started  Rembrandt when he was 32, and Adrian Gore started Discovery when he was 28.

Perhaps the key is that high-tech start-ups are usually started by young tech-savvy people who are often still students. Businesses outside of this sector tend to be initiated by people who have had business experience and who see a gap in the market, or, as indicated, simply get fed-up with doing it all for someone else.


Read the article on Newsweek here: http://www.newsweek.com/2010/08/20/innovation-grows-among-older-workers.html