If you listen to Silicon Valley investors, like Vinod Khosla, “People under 35 are the people who make change happen; people over 45 basically die in terms of new ideas.”

Oh, really?

Isn't it interesting, then, that Steve Jobs was 50 when he came up with the idea for the iPhone? Regardless, the business and investment world seems to be convinced that the next Facebook, Microsoft or Google business idea will come from a twenty-something, not a middle-aged person with experience.

While Silicon Valley’s venture capitalists speak frankly of their bias, according to research at Duke and Harvard, the average and median age of tech upstart founders is 39. The research uncovered that twice as many entrepreneurs were over 50 as were under 25.

We've stereotyped whom we think of as being entrepreneurial, particularly here in America. When someone says 'entrepreneur', we’re more likely to think of someone young, like Mark Zuckerberg, than someone with 20 to 30 years of experience under their belt.

What the Numbers Tell Us

According to Vivek Wadhwa, who led the Duke and Harvard research team:

In a follow-up project, we studied the backgrounds of 549 successful entrepreneurs in 12 high-growth industries,” Wadhwa said. “The average and median age of male founders in this group was 40, and a significant proportion were older than 50.

Scott Shane, Professor at Case Western Reserve University, reported the numbers from the 2011 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor U.S.:

15.4 percent of Americans aged 55-64 and 12.8 percent of Americans aged 45-54 run their own business, compared with 0.8 percent of Americans aged 18-24 and 4.9 percent of Americans aged 25-34.

While the numbers don't lie, people assume that innovation and business growth are fueled by the young. At the same time, many of us with vast experience under our belts doubt that we have anything to offer.

Why Age Really Means Advant AGE

I've been a solo entrepreneur for most of my life. I started inventing as a teen, published books throughout my twenties and hung out my first shingle at age 27. I wasn't a risk-taker when I was young. I was just taking advantage of my education and the demand for my skills.

Family and friends say I took my big risk when I was 40. That's when I resigned from my VP position with Sony Pictures Entertainment to found Autopia Car Care and lead a market with one innovative product after another. I left the business when I knew I was done innovating.

Now 55, I'm innovating again with life-changing ideas that are helping me, and people like me, realize that we have a lot to offer. That's where I think investors are going wrong. Sure, every once in a while a 'Facebook idea' happens by accident. But most entrepreneurial activities come from people like you and me.

Publishing expert and entrepreneur, Michael Hyatt, sites four reasons that middle-aged entrepreneurs have more to offer:

Life capital.

Intellectual capital.

Social capital.

Financial capital.

Invest in Yourself

While the investors are wasting their cash in search of the next 'Bill Gates', we can invest in ourselves. The biggest risk you will ever take is not doing what you want, betting you can buy the freedom to do it later.

If you've reached your middle age, and you're feeling like you have less to offer than the twenty- and thirty-somethings around you, take heart. You have something the youngsters don't have. You have experience and expertise. It's not something you learn in college. It comes from hard-fought battles.

If you're still selling your hours for a living, now is the time to set your big goals. Use your life experience to craft a big idea. Share your big idea with the world by teaching others what you know. Use your life, intellectual, social and financial capital to create the life of your dreams as a solopreneur.

Question: How is your age affecting your decision to start a full-time solopreneur business?

12/2/2019 UPDATE: Last month I had my 60th birthday and took some time to celebrate my life as a solopreneur. When I first wrote this article I was coaching others on how to package their knowledge and sell it. However, it was one of my other business ventures, MedicareWire.com, that took off and affords me the wonderful life I have today.

The interesting thing is that I had zero knowledge or experience in Medicare when I started the website. What I had is a BIG IDEA, internet marketing experience, and decades of experience working with databases and programming computers. By putting them all together, I created a website that competes in Google search with the big boys, like Humana, UnitedHealthcare, AARP, Aetna, Cigna, and Blue Cross Blue Shield. As a result, my Medicare health insurance website is a force to be reckoned with, and I love it.

The BIG LESSON I took away from my success with MedicareWire is to not be afraid to experiment. When I created it, I had no idea it would turn into the great success that it has.

Age and experience are a BIG ADVANTAGE. Use it!

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