Busting Myths about Successful Tech Entrepreneurs

The typical successful startup founder in Silicon Valley is in his or her twenties, right? Millennials have the creativity and fresh thinking required to disrupt entrenched incumbents in industry after industry, right? A comprehensive new study debunks this popular myth.  Kellogg Insight describes new research by strategy professor Benjamin Jones and his co-authors.   Here's a quick summary of their findings:

In a new study, Jones, along with Javier Miranda of the U.S. Census Bureau and MIT's Pierre Azoulay and J. Daniel Kim, use an expansive dataset to tackle that question. The researchers find that, contrary to popular thinking, the best entrepreneurs tend to be middle-aged. Among the very fastest-growing new tech companies, the average founder was 45 at the time of founding. Furthermore, a given 50-year-old entrepreneur is nearly twice as likely to have a runaway success as a 30-year-old.

Here are a couple more intriguing statistics from their research:

• The average age of the founder of one of the fastest-growing tech companies in their massive sample was 45 years old.
• The average age of the founder of firms that achieved successful exits either through IPO or acquisition was 46.7 years old.  

Why is it important to debunk the popular myth about millennials and successful tech startups?  First, we have to consider the biases that might shape investor decisions.  Might some be inclined to think that the best ideas come from founders in their 20's and perhaps find themselves biased against older entrepreneurs?  Second, we have to consider how the myth might discourage older individuals from taking the risk to launch a startup.  I applaud the authors for such an extensive study that shines a light on the actual experience of successful tech startups and their founders.  

Attention Marketers: Consider How Age Affects What Makes People Happy

As companies look to market their goods and services, they should pay careful attention to how age affects happiness.  That's what a new study by Cassie Mogilner and Amit Bhattacharjee suggests.  These scholars examined how particular types of experiences affects our happiness.  Here's an excerpt from Knowledge @ Wharton that summarizes their findings:

After conducting eight different studies looking at a variety of influences and experiences, Mogilner and Bhattacharjee conclude that “younger people who view their future as extensive gain more happiness from extraordinary experiences.” As people get older, and more aware that their time on earth is finite, ordinary experiences become increasingly associated with happiness, and even begin to catch up to the extraordinary in the amount of joy and contentment they produce.

What's the break point in terms of age?  It appears to be the mid-30s (ouch, I'm in the older group!).  What do they define as ordinary vs. extraordinary?  Ordinary may be a wonderful meal shared between mother and daughter.  Extraordinary might be a trip to Paris or a weekend hiking in the Rocky Mountains.   

How can marketers capitalize on this research?  The scholars argue that firms can even tailor their advertising to account for these findings.  Featuring the extraordinary might be useful in an advertisement for a product aimed at teenagers.  Featuring a happy ordinary event might be best-suited for an advertisement targeted at Baby Boomers.