How old is an entrepreneur? (2024)

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Discover our weekly pick of world-illuminating quotes from LEAP speakers – some of the most creative and motivated minds in the global tech industry.

What Levine said:

“I was inspired by the many people with interest in education technology, but none more than the students that were able to attend my opening session. You could see their curiosity and desire to embrace technology to aid in their learning and their lives.”

Successful entrepreneurs aren’t (usually) in their 20s

You know LEAP loves entrepreneurs. But by the time they found their own business, most entrepreneurs are older than you might think.

• In the US, researchers at the Harvard Business Review found that the average age of entrepreneurs at the time they found their company is 42. But most of those businesses fail – and the average age of a successful startup founder is 45.
• Data from NBCS suggests that 35% of entrepreneurs and small business owners are aged 50-59, and around 60% of people who start small businesses are aged 40-60.
• Studies suggest these average ages are similar-ish in Europe and Australia. The average age of an entrepreneur in the UK is 36; in Australia it’s 34.3 (for startup founders who’ve either received funding or gone through an accelerator program); and across continental Europe, the average age is 38.
• Interestingly, the UAE and Saudi Arabia have the world’s youngest successful entrepreneurs, according to a survey by HSBC’s private banking arm. A significant 63% of people who own a business that turns over more than USD $6.5 million are under the age of 35.
• And on the African continent, entrepreneurs are younger than in other developing regions – with an average age of 31, compared with 36 in East Asia and 35 in Latin America.

So what’s our point?

Well, Levine’s words got us thinking about what comes before successful entrepreneurship.

What can we as a community do to encourage bold, brave, highly skilled and highly resilient entrepreneurs in tech?

We’d love to know what you think.

What we think is this:

We need to encourage young entrepreneurs no matter what route they take into technology. Whether they’re university students, or people who will never go to university – but will drive change in the industry all the same.

That means…

• Creating more opportunities and access in STEM education. Millions of STEM jobs are predicted to go unfilled in the future due to a shortage of appropriate skills. Research by Pew noted that STEM employment grew by 79% between 1990 and 2018, and it’s projected to grow by another 22% by 2029.
• Developing mentorship programs that are good at identifying and supporting talented young people. And importantly, not limiting those programs to graduates only.
• Changing the fact that as many as 81% of tech employers still require job candidates to have university degrees. We’ve got to welcome young entrepreneurs who don’t take an academic route into tech.
• Being dedicated to welcoming diverse groups of tech-curious young people into the industry, and into STEM. In the UK in 2018/19 for example, The Royal Society reported that 18.7% of academic staff in STEM were from ethnic minority groups. Of those, 13.2 were Asian, and only 1.7% were Black.

The average age of a successful technology entrepreneur is not 21, or 25, or 29. The majority of people who start successful businesses are well into their 30s and above.

And that means they spent their 20s gaining experience – working in relevant industries, studying STEM, developing transferable skills, observing consumer needs, and gathering confidence and resilience.

So if we want to support entrepreneurs, we also need to support young people at the very beginning of their journey into tech and entrepreneurship. Senior tech industry professionals can create more opportunities, be generous with their time and knowledge, and drive the skills acquisition that technology needs.

The LEAP community is full of people with valuable ideas to share. So let’s keep looking to the future – by supporting the young people who are curious about tech now.

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Have an idea for a topic you'd like us to cover? We're eager to hear it! Drop us a message athello@onegiantleap.comand share your thoughts.

Catch you next week,

Richard McKeon

Marketing Director

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