Is 30 Too Old To Be An Entrepreneur?

This discussion has played itself out. If you're thinking of starting a business, do it. If you're over thirty, you certainly can't turn back the clock, and if you're in your twenties, there is plenty of evidence that it's doable. So go out and get started.

Typical cause-and-effect confusion:

Wrong: If you start early you'll be successful.

Right: If you have what it takes to be successful you start early.

That is to say that people who are born with intelligence, entrepreneurial skills, and passion for business generally feel the urge to build businesses from their teen years and act on it the first chance they get.

If you have had that urge from an early age then you've probably already tried a few times. Not all startups succeed, so keep trying. Your age doesn't matter.

If not, then you're probably just excited because of all the recent hype and dreams of becoming rich. If that's the case, and you don't feel the passion then do yourself a favor and keep your day job.

The idea that only twenty somethings have what it takes to be entrepreneurial is downright ridiculous. Yet it is an idea that keeps on popping up (recent nytimes article for example). The reason may simply be that there are more people in that age group starting companies. A larger starting pool results in a larger pool of success. But as is the case with any statistic it seems, people mistake it for truth. So in conclusion, no, 30+ is not too old to start a company. But if you want to use it as an excuse to sit on the sidelines, by all means, do so.

This question keeps coming up, but nobody's provided a definitive answer. Could someone just tell me if I'm too old to be an entrepreneur? Then I can move forward with making sure my ethnicity, political leanings, religious beliefs, and hair length are right. As soon as everything checks out I want to start implementing my idea.

Agreed, this topic is getting old. (Edit: no pun intended, seriously, I just noticed this!)

Still, I have a theory about all this...

The stats compiled by Valleywag are impressive, they show that almost all of the top 0.1% most gigantically successful companies were started by people in their 20s (Microsoft, Google, etc).

What they do not address is the age of people who start the other 99.9% of companies. I would agree that companies started by young people are more likely to be outlandishly successful (for a variety of reasons: creativity, time, etc) but I don't think that they are any more likely to start a very successful company. In fact, I would suggest that age makes it more likely that a company will be a success, though perhaps not a paradigm-busting breakout.

Yes. If you are 30 or over you should give up now.