Working Paper: NBER ID: w24489
Authors: Pierre Azoulay; Benjamin Jones; J. Daniel Kim; Javier Miranda
Abstract: Many observers, and many investors, believe that young people are especially likely to produce the most successful new firms. We use administrative data at the U.S. Census Bureau to study the ages of founders of growth-oriented start-ups in the past decade. Our primary finding is that successful entrepreneurs are middle-aged, not young. The mean founder age for the 1 in 1,000 fastest growing new ventures is 45.0. The findings are broadly similar when considering high-technology sectors, entrepreneurial hubs, and successful firm exits. Prior experience in the specific industry predicts much greater rates of entrepreneurial success. These findings strongly reject common hypotheses that emphasize youth as a key trait of successful entrepreneurs.
Keywords: entrepreneurship; founder age; high-growth firms; venture capital
JEL Codes: J24; L26; O51
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| founder age (L26) | entrepreneurial success (L26) |
| founder age (50 years) (L26) | upper-tail growth outcomes (O49) |
| prior industry experience (L69) | entrepreneurial success (L26) |
| age distribution of successful founders (L26) | older ages (J14) |
| founder age (L26) | higher success rates (I23) |