Interesting article. The findings certainly make sense. In my early 20s I got a little too much too soon as far as attention from vcs that I was not really ready for. If you have a lot of raw brain power in ur early 20s u tend to become arrogant and mistake ur being smart as sufficient to meeting ur goals. However, at least for me, I completely lacked any real wisdom or the peoples skills that come with age to do what was required. Wisdom is something that you can only gain thru life experience, which makes sense if ur 30 it’s not like u wanna hang out with 20 year olds, bc they are young, impulsive and inexperienced. Raw intelligence can often be very impulsive and I do not think raw intelligence without wisdom is even a positive trait in business. It’s a good way to create enemies
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The successful young entrepreneurs mentioned in this column, are white males, mostly. Since y2k many successful hi tech entrepreneurs in the US are non whites, likely of south Asian origin. Young as well as middle aged. They have the ingredients for success, good education hard working risk takers.
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The most important factor in becoming a successful entrepreneur in the product development and distribution industry isn't what you know but who you know. The world is littered with amazing inventions stolen by those with the means to produce and distribute them. Kickstarter used to be a means to level the field by exposing inventors to the capital needed to create production. But these days those ideas are often stolen and pushed to market by more established organizations. Just having a patent on a product often means nothing to these companies as they will fight you into the ground and win by attrition.
Stories like this seem inspirational to the uninitiated, but in reality it was the developed connections and funding received that allowed companies like nest to succeed.
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20-somethings don't have the kind of resources that are required to earn no money while starting up a company? Weird.
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No mention of the fact that the top 1% were born between 1962 and 1969. That makes them Gen X, a generation known for willingness to take risks. Looking at this through the generational lens rather than the phase-of-life lens gives us insight into why these entrepreneurs might be successful. Might we also speculate that when they're in their 60s and 70s they might continue to found successful high-tech startups?
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Does research actually show that Gen Xers are more willing to take risks than members of other generations at the same age?
I remember reading research positing that because they were the “guinea pigs” for emerging digital technology and experienced its flaws, they were somewhat more suspicious of innovation.
My individual experience (which is now fairly lengthy, alas) suggests that younger people are more willing to take risks, but risk-taking and innovation are only loosely linked — and my projects were more likely to succeed when I didn’t conflate the two.
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A few years ago, the CEO of Dyson talked about their "Unconventional Hiring Process at Dyson", explaining that "rather than looking for specific experience, we tend to hire young, fresh graduates. They come in with big ideas, unsullied by the weight of experience, which can often temper these grand thoughts."
I don't whole-heartedly agree with Dyson's approach, but there's probably room for both:
- As Kyzl Orda argues, with experience brings a longer perspective to what a field of work has tried previously, what's worked, what's failed, and what was probably ahead of it's time (and therefore ready for a re-introduction).
- Additionally, as Mr. Conze of Dyson advocates, young engineers and designers have a less calcified approach to problem-solving.
Consider this: Mr. Fadell hired Mike Matas who is long on experience (cofounder of Mac software startup, founding designer on Apple iOS, a designer at Facebook, and so on) but short on years (25 years old when Nest was released). To my knowledge, Mr. Matas was largely (solely?) responsible for the intuitive user interface design on the Nest thermostat.
To make Nest what it was, they needed a village.
6
Ok listen to this wild idea.
Imagine if Apple Corporation had its own incubator to nurture and develop their very best right in their own nest.
Say by offering the employee majority shareholder ownership upon launching of said new nest incubated corporation.
3
Can we talk about how most of them are white men too? Do you think that their ability to earn more than everyone else throughout the course of their lives puts them in better standing to take on the massive financial risks that come with being an entrepreneur? And that they are more likely to be funded by VCs and angels who largely invest in people who look like them too?
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@Elizabeth Fitzgerald - great point! Instead of celebrating the innovators and risk-takers who move our civilization forward, and encouraging other middle-aged folks to leverage their wisdom and experience, let's focus on our victimhood. Feel free to throw away your iPhone and every other device and technology that isn't sufficiently woke.
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So glad to see this piece, which recognizes the ageism inherent in our current start-up system.
Bigger question: Were there any women in the study?
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Whaaaaaat? Years spent building expertise, understanding your industry/discipline/consumer/market and gaining knowledge can lead to breakthrough ideas that actually solve a consumer problem? Oh, and foster the ability to build a successful organization and spot nascent talent? Crazy talk!
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Definitely appreciated the article. In fact, more in-depth case studies / interviews would have been read with relish.
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I love this article. I’m amazed by how openly ageist so many people are at work. They think once you hit 40 or 50 you are over the hill. Hopefully CEOs and CHROs will read this research.
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I am not surprised at this finding.
I have also never understood why corporations are so easy to give up on their older employees who are the ones who carry all of all their institutional memories of where the corporation has been and where it could go.
They usually do it because they see older employees as too expensive and not essential enough. So, as a result, the smartest ones just move on.
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Sort of an old-school concept that experience and wisdom help entrepreneurs. Decades ago the advice was work for companies first, learn on their nickel, and then go start something. Now the standard is to immediately jump into a startup. Reality is that sometime experience helps, and sometimes it can hurt, especially where a new concept or technology is needed.
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"Younger people often have a risk-taking mind-set and that might help them develop game-changing ideas. In addition, raw problem-solving ability — what psychologists call fluid intelligence — seems to peak early. It may already be declining by the time we’re in our 20s."
Guessing the writer is a millenial? Sorry, but as middle-aged me -- I find the younger generations have less imagination, thinking-outside-the-box skills or so-called game-changing ideas than other generations. Worse, most of the time, these 'game-changing ideas' are re-workings of ideas or products or services -- we've LONG had. I'm ready for better and new. If fluid intelligence supposedly (and this article is an inkling that this is not the case) peaks in one's 20s -- maybe you shouldn't be looking at age but at other reasons. One thing -- opportunities have become fewer and the barriers to innovation more difficult. Has ZERO to do with age. Many millenials have to sleep at their parents -- as do other generations whom the Times just ignores. (PS - Gen Xers adn Yers and Baby Boomers are STILL here, thank you very much). What if everyone had opportunities? Innovation would soar
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@Kyzl Orda Seema Jayachandran earned her BS in Electrical Engineering from MIT in the early 90s, and is a professor of Economics at Northwestern. I think it's unlikely that she's a millennial.
19
Yes. So much of so-called innovation these days just boils down to better packaging.
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