Contrary to popular belief, middle-aged entrepreneurs do better

New research suggests mature-aged entrepreneurship – after the age of 50 – is growing faster than among any other age group in Australia.

Mature-aged entrepreneurs run about a third of all businesses that are less than three years old. (All up, mature-aged entrepreneurs have started about 380,000 businesses with a turnover of about A$12 billion a year.)

Younger entrepreneurs do have some advantages. As a group, they are healthier and tend to have fewer family obligations. They may be less risk-averse, often because they have less to lose. They may also benefit from others’ positive perceptions of them as “youthful”.

But mature-aged entrepreneurs have three key advantages: human capital, social capital, and financial capital.

Older entrepreneurs have accumulated business and life experience, knowledge and skills, social networks, and resources that better equip them for success. They tend to have better social skills and are better able to regulate their emotions, than those younger.

They do have a lower risk tolerance than younger entrepreneurs, but that is offset by other factors, such as confidence in their abilities and experience. Their fear of failure is thus less than their younger counterparts.

All evidence points to founders being especially successful when starting businesses in middle age or beyond, while young founders appear disadvantaged”.

The “batting average” for creating successful firms rose dramatically with age. A 50-year-old founder was 1.8 times more likely to achieve “upper-tail growth” than a 30-year-old founder. Those in their early 20s had the lowest likelihood of success.

Entrepreneurship may therefore be a viable alternative to mature-aged unemployment.

There is, however, compelling evidence that aspiring mature-aged entrepreneurs require specialized government support and incentives, both to start their businesses and grow their businesses.

Government initiatives such as the Entrepreneur’s Program (formerly the Entrepreneurship Infrastructure Program) and Entrepreneurs Facilitators, for example, could be better designed to account for the specific needs of mature-aged entrepreneurs.