{"id":30555,"date":"2018-08-14T14:55:24","date_gmt":"2018-08-14T18:55:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/creator\/creator\/?p=30555"},"modified":"2020-02-26T14:31:24","modified_gmt":"2020-02-26T19:31:24","slug":"when-youre-an-entrepreneur-experience-really-does-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/when-youre-an-entrepreneur-experience-really-does-matter","title":{"rendered":"When you\u2019re an entrepreneur, experience really does matter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A clich\u00e9 about youthful founders working feverishly to launch an industry-disrupting company is the prediction that they will eventually have to bring in an \u201cadult\u201d to advise on business decisions and manage growth. But what if the founder is already the adult in the room? <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A new study that examines age and high-growth entrepreneurship revealed that founders are more likely to succeed when they start their business well after that youthful glow has faded. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe highest success ranges in entrepreneurship come from founders in middle age and beyond,\u201d says<\/span> “Age and High-Growth Entrepreneurship<\/a>,” by professors at MIT and Northwestern University and Javier Miranda of the U.S. Census Bureau. Their findings are consistent, they say, with theories that key entrepreneurial resources like human capital, financial capital, and social capital accumulate with age.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study analyzed the age of United States-based founders in recent years and focused on technology companies, using markers like the number of people hired, venture capital backing, patents garnered, and acquisitions to measure success. They found that the mean age for the highest growth new ventures is 45, and that the most successful entrepreneurs in both the tech sector and the geographic areas of the U.S. considered the most entrepreneurial are close to the same age. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, as the study also notes, those findings are at odds with the perception that only a founder in their twenties can have the think-out-of-the-box mindset to disrupt an industry, and the unencumbered life that allows full focus on building the business. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though certainly aware of those stereotypes, founders in their mid-thirties and beyond see their work experience as key to knowing exactly what disruption is needed in industries they\u2019ve long been part of, and how to achieve their goals in the most efficient manner. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Viewed as \u2018more of a peer\u2019<\/strong><\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Steve Stewart, who works from<\/span> WeWork Pacific Design Center<\/span><\/a> in Los Angeles, is well versed in working around the clock and traveling around the world at a young age. Starting in his twenties, Stewart spent a decade managing Stone Temple Pilots, one of the most popular rock bands of the 1990s, and built a thriving business overseeing the careers of about 25 other artists and their major-label record deals. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI felt like I missed the tech boom,\u201d Stewart said recently, shortly after returning from South Korea to open a new office for his less than two-year-old company,<\/span> Vezt<\/span><\/a>, a platform that allows fans to buy stakes in artists\u2019 songs. \u201cI saw it, but I was so tied up in the business I was in I couldn\u2019t participate in the way I wanted to.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Cindy Joseph, founder of The Cee Suite, says Brooklyn, was pleased by \u201chow fast and furious my network came through for me when I launched my business.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It was his extensive experience in the music business that allowed Stewart and his cofounder to later identify its pain points. \u201cThe part that was broken wasn\u2019t the distribution, and it wasn\u2019t the production. It was the financing of the music itself, the way that artists were able to monetize, so we started to focus on that problem.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Age brought not just knowledge, but the confidence to convince customers and investors he\u2019s right about how to do it. \u201cIf you don\u2019t have the confidence to project the problem, the solution, what your company is doing, and to invigorate and convince others, [the idea] is just going to sit there,\u201d Stewart says. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

His experience allows him to relate both to the young artists looking to make their living in music and the music industry executives close to his age. \u201cWhen I was 24 walking into Atlantic Records, someone who was 50 may doubt me,\u201d he says. Now, venture capitalists and senior level executives are \u201clooking at someone across the table who is more of their peer.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

His contact list also means he can often get things done more quickly. \u201cI can do something with one call or one email that might take someone without experience or contacts five calls or five emails,\u201d he says. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A \u2018fast and furious\u2019 network<\/strong><\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Cindy Joseph, who turns 40 in August and operates her talent management and consulting company<\/span> The Cee Suite<\/span><\/a> from<\/span> WeWork Montague St<\/span><\/a> in Brooklyn, says she was pleasantly surprised by \u201chow fast and furious my network came through for me when I launched my business.\u201d That network included colleagues and people she\u2019d managed or recruited over the course of her more than 15 years as a human resources executive at places like Accenture and Goldman Sachs, and her college alumni group. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joseph works with clients across all industries, including finance and tech, and believes that later-in-life founders must demonstrate why their past experience is invaluable while winnowing that information to what\u2019s most relevant to right now. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s knowing when to lean on having the experience, but not letting that be something that hampers you and keeps you from thinking outside the box,\u201d she says. \u201cAt the end of the day, it\u2019s more about what\u2019s next, and less about what\u2019s behind us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Know how the machine works\u2019<\/strong><\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

John Smelzer, 53, has been working on startups since his early forties, including having an ad network he co-founded,<\/span> 5to1<\/span><\/a>, acquired by Yahoo. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smelzer understands the perception that investors are more interested in young founders. \u201cIt\u2019s based on a belief that when you\u2019re young you have limitless energy, nothing to lose, no mortgage, no kids, no private school tuition. You\u2019re not bound by norms,\u201d he says. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
ScoreStream President and COO John Smelzer, seen here at a game with his daughter, says experienced entrepreneurs know “what will fly and what will not fly.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Smelzer, who works from<\/span> WeWork Santa Monica<\/span><\/a>, was a lawyer before working for two decades in sports media for the NFL, NBC Sports, and Fox Sports. He is now president and COO of<\/span> ScoreStream<\/span><\/a>, a five-year-old company that crowdsources real-time local sports scores.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re disrupting\u2026 you have to have some knowledge of what will fly and what will not fly. It doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re going to retreat or not try; you\u2019re using your experience to focus your energy on the highest probability of success within the machine,\u201d he says. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smelzer feels he often knows exactly what the other side must get to make a deal work. \u201cWe know what the other side thinks is important, so it makes it a lot easier in a negotiation to give them the things you know they need and still get what you want,\u201d he says. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018If you have an idea now, do it now\u2019<\/strong><\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Cheryl Cheng<\/span><\/a>, general partner at Menlo Park-based BlueRun Ventures<\/a>, acknowledges there\u2019s a magic to the youthful need to shake things up, but says founders of any age can be successful if they have that particular fire. One advantage many older founders have, Cheng says, is the operating experience to immediately run the business side of things, and to hire and fire in a way that\u2019s tailored to the specific needs of the company, rather than focusing on friends or a lot of people with the same traits and interests.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, she says, investors are best served to just focus on the problem proposed to be solved and who is the best person to do it.  \u201cOur job is to be open-minded all the time, and to really take in the whole package of any opportunity. It\u2019s dangerous to be categorically opposed to something that arbitrary,\u201d Cheng said, referring to a founder\u2019s age.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many 35-and-over founders, including Stewart, Joseph, and Melzer, do feel that, advantages of life experiences aside, the idea and the ability to execute are what matter the most. And that comes at different times for different people.  \u201cMy view is, \u2018Hey, if you have the idea now, do it now,\u2019\u201d Smelzer says.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New research confirms that founders over 40 have a much better chance for success. Here’s why that’s true<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1689,"featured_media":30562,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43903,43911],"tags":[515,39218,39221],"class_list":["post-30555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community-stories","category-member-spotlight","tag-productivity","tag-small-businesses","tag-entrepreneurs"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhen you\u2019re an entrepreneur, experience really does matter<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"New research confirms that founders over 40 have a much better chance for success. 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But why is that true?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/when-youre-an-entrepreneur-experience-really-does-matter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ideas\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-08-14T18:55:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-02-26T19:31:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/08\/Cindy-Joseph-1.jpg?fit=3102%2C1598\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"3102\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1598\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Erin Geiger Smith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Erin Geiger Smith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/when-youre-an-entrepreneur-experience-really-does-matter#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/when-youre-an-entrepreneur-experience-really-does-matter\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Erin Geiger Smith\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#\/schema\/person\/4d2aa001d04802879b553df7e49f1787\"},\"headline\":\"When you\u2019re an entrepreneur, experience really does matter\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-08-14T18:55:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-02-26T19:31:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/when-youre-an-entrepreneur-experience-really-does-matter\"},\"wordCount\":1320,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/when-youre-an-entrepreneur-experience-really-does-matter#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/08\/Cindy-Joseph-1.jpg?fit=3102%2C1598\",\"keywords\":[\"Productivity\",\"Small Businesses\",\"Entrepreneurs\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Community Stories\",\"Member Spotlight\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/when-youre-an-entrepreneur-experience-really-does-matter\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/when-youre-an-entrepreneur-experience-really-does-matter\",\"name\":\"When you\u2019re an entrepreneur, experience really does matter\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/when-youre-an-entrepreneur-experience-really-does-matter#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/community-stories\/member-spotlight\/when-youre-an-entrepreneur-experience-really-does-matter#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/08\/Cindy-Joseph-1.jpg?fit=3102%2C1598\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-08-14T18:55:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-02-26T19:31:24+00:00\",\"description\":\"New research confirms that founders over 40 have a much better chance for success. 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