Innovation without Age Limits
Research by my team revealed that the average and median age of the founders of successful U.S. technology businesses (with real revenues) is 39. We found twice as many successful founders over 50 as under 25, and twice as many over 60 as under 20. So everyone has a shot at success, but age provides a distinct advantage.
Are venture capitalists misguided, then, in funding companies with baby-faced CEOs? Perhaps one answer lies in the results of a study conducted by the Kauffman Foundation. It found that during the period when funding young technology entrepreneurs became the norm, from 1997 to 2007, the venture industry grew dramatically. But returns actually stagnated and then declined—precipitously. The returns of venture industry lagged those of the small-cap Russell 2000 Index by 10 percent over the 10-year time frame.
When you meet entrepreneurs in India, Ireland, Brazil, and other parts of the world, you find many of the same dynamics at play. The young have the outrageous ideas, but its older people who achieve business success.
So entrepreneurs all over the world are trying again and again. In the process, they are getting older and smarter, and eventually achieving success.
But understanding these diverse technologies isn’t the domain of the young. Though college dropouts may know all about social media, it is very unlikely that they understand the intricacies of nanotechnology and artificial intelligence as well as their elders do. These are complex technologies that require not only a strong education but also the ability to work across domains and collaborate with intellectual peers in different disciplines of science and engineering.
The reality is that there is no age requirement for innovation. The young and old can both innovate. The young dominate new-era software development, and software will be a key driving force in the convergence of other technologies that are expanding exponentially. So we badly need our young. And we need our older entrepreneurs to develop cross-disciplinary solutions that solve the grand challenges of humanity.
Vivek Wadhwa is VP of academics and innovation at Singularity University and has affiliations at Duke, Stanford, and Emory. He is 54 years old.
See the full story here: http://www.technologyreview.com/news/426760/innovation-without-age-limits/page/1/