What drives success for young entrepreneurs?

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This week we’re quoting James Caan CBE (Serial entrepreneur, Media Commentator and Former Investor on BBC’s Dragons’ Den)

What Caan said: 

“I think entrepreneurs sometimes believe it’s money that makes the difference. Money is just one ingredient — the experience factor, to me, is just as important as the capital you need to start a business.” 

Data shows that most successful entrepreneurs are older than 40

Entrepreneurship is often seen as a young person’s game – but that’s not actually true at all. Research shows that the top startups are founded by people with an average age of 45, and the average age of entrepreneurs when they founded their first companies is 42. 

If age and experience go hand-in-hand, the connection here is clear: if you’ve had more years to gain professional and life experience, you’re more likely to launch a successful business. 

But what if you’re not 40?

Younger entrepreneurs bring other strengths to the table 

Let’s not dismiss entrepreneurs under the age of 40 – because we know that it’s possible to build a successful tech startup at any age. 

Younger entrepreneurs bring:

• More energy and (often) fewer obligations – so they can dedicate more time to working long hours on building the business.

• Flexibility and open minds. This isn’t to say that older entrepreneurs can’t be open-minded too; but those with less experience may be more willing to try out-of-the box solutions and develop untried methods in order to work through business challenges and get to market.

• A longer future-time perspective. This can drive motivation and also allows more scope for taking risks (and failing).

• And more of their working lives ahead of them also means they have more time to recover financially from business failure if their venture isn’t successful. 

What can entrepreneurs under 40 do about the experience gap? 

The key to navigating an entrepreneurial journey with less experience behind you is to fill in the gaps – with experience from others. 

You might do this by hiring more experienced team members to take responsibility for certain roles. Or (particularly at an early stage), you might seek mentorship from experienced industry professionals who can guide you when you’re not sure if you’re making the right decisions. 

For Caan, mentorship is essential for entrepreneurs: 

“...one of the things that I spent a lot of time doing, with 50,000 businesses that I’ve backed and started in the UK, was identifying mentors for these businesses. I believe one of the biggest things we lack when we start a business is the experience of execution. And therefore the concept of mentorship for me was imperative.” 

With mentorship and tenacity, and a willingness to recognise the hazy spots in their own experience, young entrepreneurs can reach impressive heights.

Like:

• Nick D’Aloisio – an entrepreneur who created a new summarisation app called Summly (formerly Trimit) when he was 15 years old, and sold it for USD $30 million when he was 17.

• Vinusha MK – who founded ed-tech startup NextTech Lab when she was 16, and raised more than $100,000 in funding.

• Michael Sayman, who created a Facebook app called 4 Snaps when he was only 13, and sold it to a gaming company for $3 million after he turned 16. 

Yes – these are extreme examples of very young entrepreneurs. But they serve as inspiration for people in their 20s and 30s too who are launching tech businesses in crowded markets without decades of professional experience to back them up. 

Everything is possible. 

Read the blog: How to find the right mentor

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Catch you next week,

Richard McKeon

Vice President of Marketing & Communications, Tahaluf

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