Recently, I’ve been made a believer that there are simply no expiration dates on pursuing your passions and dreams. Take, for example, the many great entrepreneurs, artists, and inventors that did not hit their stride until after the age of 40. For example, Henry Ford was 45 when he came up with the design for the revolutionary Model T Ford. Some other “late blooming” entrepreneurs:
- Colonel Sanders was 62 when founded Kentucky Fried Chicken
- Ray Kroc was 52 when he started building the McDonald’s franchise
- Sam Walton was 44 when he founded Wal-Mart
- Robin Chase cofounded Zipcar at the age of 42
I think Socrates was right, “the unexamined life is not worth living”.
My recent inspiration
The importance of never losing sight of your goals and aspirations really hit home after I read a terrific piece by Gary Vaynerchuk entitled “Why entrepreneurs over 40 years old have to act now!!” His takeaways are worth summarizing:
- Entrepreneurship is not just for 20 and 30-somethings.
- If the entrepreneurial spirit is burning bright, then don’t allow age-related norms hold you back—go for it!
- Thanks to technology, there’s never been a better time to be an entrepreneur.
- If you are over 40, you can still learn the tools and technologies that are opening up unprecedented entrepreneurial opportunities.
The lesson here is clear—never buy into the idea that your window of opportunity has shut or that your time as passed.
Make sure you wear jeans
Despite an abundance of successful late bloomers, there’s still a certain amount of age bias in the VC community. Someone over the age of 40 pitching a tech startup will probably encounter raised eyebrows because they don’t fit the stereotype of a 20-something brimming with social media chops and an intimate knowledge of all the coolest trends in the market. Vinod Khosla, one of the co-founders of Sun Microsystems, reiterated this attitude when he so affirmatively stated that people under 35 are the ones who will make change happen.
However, despite this common idea about the future of technology, the facts appear to contradict this view. According to the Kaufmann Foundation, older entrepreneurs (those ages 55 to 64) have success rates twice that of their younger counterparts.
So for those over 40 (like me), its encouraged to keep a pulse on the trends and what your younger counterparts are doing. Not only as it relates to technology and business models, but also when it comes to fashion. Yes, fashion! For example, it’s actually okay and encouraged to wears jeans to important meetings now. In fact, Peter Theil, a co-founder of PayPal, recent author of the book ‘Zero to One‘ goes on to say that “in Silicon Valley, wearing a suit in a pitch meeting makes you look like someone who is bad at sales and worse at tech.” Peter is not fond of suit wearing CEO’s.
Youth is wasted on the young
So what separates the older entrepreneur from the younger one. Assuming age bias exists and you start wearing jeans, how can you distinguish yourself?
Gary Vee mentions that what young people have in abundance is confidence. I’d even go as far as saying, a sense of immortality (I know I did when I was younger). It’s a great quality to have and being brash is conducive to success. After all, self-assurance encourages taking risks.
As you get a little older—and after you’ve endured hard knocks and disappointment—some of that confidence can wane. But setbacks and failures should never discourage us. As Gary observes, 40-somethings have the intangibles that millennials probably just don’t have yet—what many of us also call experience!
Alex Iskold, Managing Director of Techstars NYC, calls out experience as well as, he emphasizes domain knowledge and relevant experience. Alex mentions that “teams that know the space really stand out. Having the experience and knowledge really matters, as it helps the team and investors mitigate the risk.”
There’s no substitute for hard-won wisdom and the grit that comes from overcoming adversity. Those are qualities successful entrepreneurs need and those over 40 have them in abundance. So, if you always wanted to start a company, pursue a great idea, or change the world with a product or service, then don’t let conventional thinking or self-imposed limitations hold you back—explore life and give it a shot.
The adventure begins
So with all that considered, and thanks to Gary Vee for the nudge, I’ve finally decided to start my new venture, a company called Rake.
With Rake, the plan is to leverage my 11+ years of experience in software product development for talent acquisition and recruitment advertising.
Rake was started to help job seekers manage their job search by allowing them to keep track of all their efforts in one place, something I experienced firsthand. After thoroughly conducting research on the topic, I was convinced that if there was a simple to use tool to help people in their job search, they would embrace it.
Our early success is starting to validate this, Rake is a Top 10 app for ‘job search’ and was recently named a Top 10 Tech Tool for Job Seekers by Recuiter.com.
But given the statistics and knowing the odds for success are bleak for any new venture, somehow, the fire burns inside and the desire to create awesome new products and services takes over. I admit, I wake up at times saying to myself, “what am I doing? Is this the responsibly thing for me to do for my family, for myself?” I can easily come up with a list of all the reasons not to do this. Heck, if it was easy, everyone would do it.
When looking straight in the eye of the unknown and with a great deal of uncertainty, the only way to proceed is to do so with conviction and determination.
Thanks for your support, give Rake a try, follow us here on LinkedIn, and more importantly please provide feedback.
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Also published on Medium and LinkedIn.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Michael Iacona has 20+ years’ cross-industry experience within large multinational companies, works with start-ups and earned dual Masters degrees – an MBA from Columbia Business School and an MS in Information Systems from Pace University. Having built, led and managed small and large teams, Michael continual evolves his management style. He leads by example and fosters open communication and enjoys coaching team members, capitalizing on their unique talents.
