The startup business world can seem like a young person’s game, but the truth is that the 55-64 age group boasts more entrepreneurs in America than any other age group. In fact, according to the Kauffman Foundation, in 2015 26% of new entrepreneurs were 55-64. In 1997, only 15% of entrepreneurs fell in that age range.
These numbers aren’t all that surprising: we live in an era where people are living – and enjoying life longer than ever thanks to medical advances. Even a person’s residential status is no barrier to retirement success, as it is perfectly possible with the use of technology to run a business while living in a residential care facility. Essentially, entrepreneurship offers seniors flexibility and a more gradual path towards retirement. Take Tim and Nina Zagat. At the age of 58 and 60, both were attorneys in Manhattan frustrated by critics’ unreliable restaurant reviews. So, they created their own, manually collecting results from 200 friends.
The couple has now gone on to create the famous Zagat publishing empire, owned by Google, which has made them millionaires many times over. Interested in becoming the next Tim or Nina Zagat? Here are three reasons why now is the right time–especially if you’re over the age of 50.
Technology Breaks Down Barriers
While keeping up the latest tech gadgets can be overwhelming, technology is less about complicating entrepreneurship, and more about making it cheaper and easier to reach your target market. It costs very little–and requires very little knowledge–to create a website, and allows you to gather feedback easily and quickly.
Still concerned you don’t have the technology know-how? Teens and twenty-somethings are easy to find and hire.
Raising Capital is Easier than Ever
Often, people in their 50s and 60s have established good credit, and since credit is currently fairly available and interest rates are low, starting a business is much easier now than in times of heavy recession or economic downturn. Need more credit than you can raise traditionally, but don’t want to go the angel or venture capital route? Now there’s crowdsourcing, a way to raise funds directly from potential consumers. Entrepreneurs have raised millions on platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo.
You have What it Takes
Thanks to what is often a lifetime’s worth of career experience, wide and expanded personal networks, and (most typically) established financial security, seniors have a wealth of experience and insight that just doesn’t come with youth. The truth of the matter is that today there are twice as many entrepreneurs over 50 as under 25. 75% have more than six years of industry experience when they start a new venture, and nearly 70% start their companies to capitalize on current business ideas and build wealth.
Thanks to technology breaking down barriers, better than ever access to capital, and the kind of wisdom that comes with age, people in their 50s and 60s have never known a better time to become entrepreneurs.
