Says the conventional wisdom. Which of these are true?
TLDR: None of them. And some are actually the reverse.
Age
I had the idea as an ignorant 13 year old that there was no reason to live to 50 because, I mean, really, everyone knew your life was basically over then, right? What I didn’t know then was that many people’s greatest work came after 50. Even the average age of entrepreneurs is 42 and the average age of founders who were successful is 47 years old at the time of company founding. Even in tech the average age of successful founders is quite late in life, 42. Moreover, the age at which founders have the highest chance of success is 59!
Many of these founders didn’t even start what they eventually became famous for until late in life. The father of modern advertising, David Ogilvy, didn’t start advertising until 38. Julia Child didn’t publish a cookbook until 50.
Here’s the age famous founders started their organizations or did their first great work:
Eric Yuan (Zoom) 42. Had a video conferencing idea for the company he worked at called WebX. The company rejected his idea and he quit.
Colonel Sanders. KFC. 65. Started his first restaurant at 40 and developed the pressure fryer at 50 which cooks the chicken faster and juicier than a deep fryer. Later he founded KFC.
Reid Hoffman founded LinkedIn at 35. Previously COO at PayPal and before that had a failed social network
Charles Flint. IBM. 61. Created it through the amalgamation of 4 companies which he had previously done to form US Rubber and Chicle gum.
Robin Chase. Zipcar. 42
Ray Kroc. McDonalds. 52. Before that he spent 17 years as a paper cup salesman.
Mandela became president at 72
Tony Morison published her first novel at 40
Ang Lee was a stay at home dad until he directed Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon at 40
Ian Flemming wrote the first James Bond book at 44
Donald Fisher was 40 when he opened the first Gap store in San Francisco in 1969 with his wife Doris. He had no experience in retail when he started the company.
Charles Darwin published Origin of Species at 50.
Miguel de Cervantes was 58 when he wrote Don Quixote
Joseph A. Campbell started his canned goods company at the age of 52. His company sold its first soup for which the company is famous for when Campbell was 78 years old
CostCo founders were 41 and 47, Jeffrey Brotman and James Sinegal.
Henry Royce created his first car at 41, the Rolls-Royce.
Momofuku Ando came up with instant ramen at age 48
Lucille Ball came up with I Love Lucy TV show at 40. She had failed out of drama school as a child.
Giorgio Armani. 41
JRR Tolkien published his first book at 44.
Martha Stewart published her first book at 40
Sam Walton started the first Wal Mart at 44
Mother Theresa founded the order for which she is famous when she was 40.
John Warnock founded Adobe when he was 42 years old. And at 50, Warnock came up with the ubiquitous Portable Document Format, or PDF
Laura Ingalls Wilder published the first of the “Little House” books at 65
Chip Wilson started Lululemon when he was 42
Pat Brown, Impossible Foods. 57. Previously was a researcher.
Jack Ma was 35 when he started Alibaba. Earlier he had applied to KFC for a job and been rejected.
Marc Benioff was 35 when he founded Salesforce
Jan Koum founded whatsapp at 35.
Robert Noyce founded Intel at 41, co-founder Gordon Moore (of Moore's Law) was 39.
John Pemberton invented Coca Cola at 55. He had a saber wound to the chest from the Civil War. He became addicted to morphine and tried to come up with a tonic to ease the addiction. Ultimately he combined caffeine, cocaine, sugar and carbonation. The obstacle is the way. Ultimately he sold the company for $300 (in 2022 dollars) to feed his morphine addiction.
David Duffied, billionaire, founded his first company PeopleSoft at 47. Then founded WorkDay at 65.
If we just look at Unicorn founders since the mid 1990s (Valuation >$1b) the average age is 35. The average unicorn founder is not a 20 year old college dropout–Zuckerberg, Jobs and Gates are anomalies.
Family
52% of entrepreneurs are first in their family to start a business:
30% of unicorn CEOs had only failed startups before their $1b company.
Some people say that working at a start up first is the best way to learn how to do it. Not necessarily: 73% unicorn founder CEOs had not previously been employed at a startup.
Technical founders?
There is always the debate if technical or non-technical CEOs are better. Turns out 51% of unicorns were founded by non-technical CEOs.
Competition
Peter Thiel famously says “avoid competition; competition is for losers.”
But only 15% or unicorns were started in a space without competition. Most successful companies are launched in a competitive space.
Market timing?
You can be first to market, last or somewhere in the middle:
Here’s one thing all Founders have in common:
All of them started. It didn’t matter their age, their previous experience, market timing, or family history.
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What makes a successful entrepreneur? (says the data)
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“You have to start before age 30.”
“You need industry experience.”
“Find an industry without competition.”
“Entrepreneurship always runs in the family.”
Says the conventional wisdom. Which of these are true?
TLDR: None of them. And some are actually the reverse.
Age
I had the idea as an ignorant 13 year old that there was no reason to live to 50 because, I mean, really, everyone knew your life was basically over then, right? What I didn’t know then was that many people’s greatest work came after 50. Even the average age of entrepreneurs is 42 and the average age of founders who were successful is 47 years old at the time of company founding. Even in tech the average age of successful founders is quite late in life, 42. Moreover, the age at which founders have the highest chance of success is 59!
Many of these founders didn’t even start what they eventually became famous for until late in life. The father of modern advertising, David Ogilvy, didn’t start advertising until 38. Julia Child didn’t publish a cookbook until 50.
Here’s the age famous founders started their organizations or did their first great work:
Eric Yuan (Zoom) 42. Had a video conferencing idea for the company he worked at called WebX. The company rejected his idea and he quit.
Colonel Sanders. KFC. 65. Started his first restaurant at 40 and developed the pressure fryer at 50 which cooks the chicken faster and juicier than a deep fryer. Later he founded KFC.
Reid Hoffman founded LinkedIn at 35. Previously COO at PayPal and before that had a failed social network
Charles Flint. IBM. 61. Created it through the amalgamation of 4 companies which he had previously done to form US Rubber and Chicle gum.
Robin Chase. Zipcar. 42
Ray Kroc. McDonalds. 52. Before that he spent 17 years as a paper cup salesman.
Mandela became president at 72
Tony Morison published her first novel at 40
Ang Lee was a stay at home dad until he directed Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon at 40
Ian Flemming wrote the first James Bond book at 44
Donald Fisher was 40 when he opened the first Gap store in San Francisco in 1969 with his wife Doris. He had no experience in retail when he started the company.
Charles Darwin published Origin of Species at 50.
Miguel de Cervantes was 58 when he wrote Don Quixote
Joseph A. Campbell started his canned goods company at the age of 52. His company sold its first soup for which the company is famous for when Campbell was 78 years old
CostCo founders were 41 and 47, Jeffrey Brotman and James Sinegal.
Henry Royce created his first car at 41, the Rolls-Royce.
Momofuku Ando came up with instant ramen at age 48
Lucille Ball came up with I Love Lucy TV show at 40. She had failed out of drama school as a child.
Giorgio Armani. 41
JRR Tolkien published his first book at 44.
Martha Stewart published her first book at 40
Sam Walton started the first Wal Mart at 44
Mother Theresa founded the order for which she is famous when she was 40.
John Warnock founded Adobe when he was 42 years old. And at 50, Warnock came up with the ubiquitous Portable Document Format, or PDF
Laura Ingalls Wilder published the first of the “Little House” books at 65
Chip Wilson started Lululemon when he was 42
Pat Brown, Impossible Foods. 57. Previously was a researcher.
Jack Ma was 35 when he started Alibaba. Earlier he had applied to KFC for a job and been rejected.
Marc Benioff was 35 when he founded Salesforce
Jan Koum founded whatsapp at 35.
Robert Noyce founded Intel at 41, co-founder Gordon Moore (of Moore's Law) was 39.
John Pemberton invented Coca Cola at 55. He had a saber wound to the chest from the Civil War. He became addicted to morphine and tried to come up with a tonic to ease the addiction. Ultimately he combined caffeine, cocaine, sugar and carbonation. The obstacle is the way. Ultimately he sold the company for $300 (in 2022 dollars) to feed his morphine addiction.
David Duffied, billionaire, founded his first company PeopleSoft at 47. Then founded WorkDay at 65.
If we just look at Unicorn founders since the mid 1990s (Valuation >$1b) the average age is 35. The average unicorn founder is not a 20 year old college dropout–Zuckerberg, Jobs and Gates are anomalies.
Family
52% of entrepreneurs are first in their family to start a business:
Relevant Experience
65% of unicorn CEOs did not have directly relevant experience before they founded their Unicorn.
30% of unicorn CEOs had only failed startups before their $1b company.
Some people say that working at a start up first is the best way to learn how to do it. Not necessarily: 73% unicorn founder CEOs had not previously been employed at a startup.
Technical founders?
There is always the debate if technical or non-technical CEOs are better. Turns out 51% of unicorns were founded by non-technical CEOs.
Competition
Peter Thiel famously says “avoid competition; competition is for losers.”
But only 15% or unicorns were started in a space without competition. Most successful companies are launched in a competitive space.
Market timing?
You can be first to market, last or somewhere in the middle:
Here’s one thing all Founders have in common:
All of them started. It didn’t matter their age, their previous experience, market timing, or family history.