Think you’re too old to start a business? Science says people in their 40s, 50s, and even 60s have a distinct advantage

Mark Zuckerberg was 19 when he started Facebook. Bill Gates was 21 when he started Microsoft; co-founder Paul Allen was 23. Steve Jobs was 21 when he co-founded Apple; co-founder Steve Wozniak was 26. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang were 30. 

Yet they’re the exceptions, not the rule. A study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research found the average age of entrepreneurs who start a company and go on to hire at least one employee is 42. A study conducted by the Census Bureau and two MIT professors found the most successful entrepreneurs tend to be middle-aged, even in the technology sector. After compiling a list of 2.7 million company founders who hired at least one employee between 2007 and 2014, researchers found the average age of those who founded the most successful tech companies was 45.

And then there’s this: In general terms, a 50-year-old entrepreneur was almost twice as likely to start an extremely successful company as a 30-year-old. A 60-year-old startup founder was three times more likely to launch a successful startup than a 30-year-old startup founder, and nearly twice as likely to have launched a startup that ranked in the top 0.1% (in terms of revenue) of all companies.

More broadly, a review of studies published by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that the age at which scientists and inventors reach their moment of “genius” is rising: While the average age used to be younger, the majority now make their biggest contributions to their fields after the age of 40. 

As the researchers write: 

This research consistently finds that performance peaks in middle age: The life cycle begins with a training period in which major creative output is absent, followed by a rapid rise in output to a peak, often in their late 30s or 40s.

Makes sense. True mastery typically takes time. As the researchers write:

The link between creativity and extant knowledge may depend not just on the acquisition of extant knowledge via training, but may depend on the nature and difficulty of the cognitive processes involved in drawing together and extending sets of extant knowledge.

Or in non-researcher-speak: It’s not enough to just know things; you have to know how those things fit within larger frameworks in order to make new connections and new breakthroughs. 

The same premise applies to starting a business. Ideas are great, but execution is everything, and it’s much harder to execute well when you have limited experience. That’s especially true when leadership experience is a factor. Even if I come up with a truly groundbreaking idea, if I don’t have the skills needed to turn a collection of individuals into a team, I will probably fail.

But there’s a deeper reason. People who succeed at a young age tend to make conceptual breakthroughs. Like Bill Gates and his “computer on every desk and in every home.” Like Bezos and his “everything store.” Like Lin-Manuel Miranda, who was 28 when he started developing Hamilton, arguably the first successful hip-hop musical.

While Gates and Bezos didn’t have the skills to run multibillion-dollar companies, they did have breakthrough ideas—and then they developed the necessary skills. Miranda didn’t have the skills to write Hamilton, but he developed those skills; for example, he says it took a year to write “My Shot.”

Contrast that with people who start companies later in life: Most leverage the skills, knowledge, and experience they’ve already gained.

Ray Kroc held a number of sales jobs before purchasing McDonald’s when he was 52. Sam Walton’s experience owning Ben Franklin stores led to developing the skills to run a multilocation retail operation (and to the conceptual breakthrough of launching Walmart stores in small towns instead of large cities).

Think of them as examples of what David Galenson in Old Masters and Young Geniuses calls “masters”: people who early in life may not have been very good in their chosen field, or in any field, but worked to develop mastery. They peaked later in life because they had developed the skills necessary to execute: to turn a string of burger joints into a multinational conglomerate. To turn inefficient and disjointed retail operations into a logistics juggernaut. To write classic show tunes.

While others surely had similar ideas, Gates, Bezos, et al. also managed to execute. And survivor bias—our tendency to take lessons from people who survived and ignore those who failed—helps us word-associate our way to reflexively thinking “young” when we hear “successful startup founder.”

But research shows that’s rarely the case. Sure, if you truly make a conceptual breakthrough, you may be able to be wildly successful at a young age. Most of the time, though, older entrepreneurs have a decided advantage, even in tech fields, long assumed to be the province of youth. (There’s a huge difference between adoption/consumption and creation.)

So, if you’re in your 40s, as Sam Walton was, and you want to start a business, do it. If you’re in your 50s, as Ray Kroc was, and you want to start a business, do it. If you’re in your 60s, as Colonel Sanders was, and you want to franchise your business, do it.

While ideas matter—especially genuinely breakthrough ideas—execution almost always matters more. 

Research shows age isn’t a competitive disadvantage; instead, your experience, skills, connections, and expertise are what will make you successful.

As long as you put those attributes—attributes you’ve earned—to work for you.

—Jeff Haden

This article originally appeared on Fast Company’s sister website, Inc.com. 

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