You think you might have what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur, punk? Maybe you do or maybe you don’t, but you can prep for the assignment when you’re young and know everything.
Lots of baloney about the age of entrepreneurs in America. It’s not what you think.
1. The average age entrepreneurs launching their first baby is 42. Yep, first timers are in their 40s. Not 20-something whiz kids, guys in their 40s. Surprises me.
2. In the top 50 US metropolitan areas, that number drops to 36. City slickers are younger than the rest of the country. I attribute this unscientifically to superior startup ecosystems.
In 2021, that number — the top 50 US metropolitan areas — was 40, so the city folk are getting bolder.
3. A 2018 Harvard study says the fastest growing new ventures launched 45-year-olds at the helm.
4. Silicon Valley likes to peddle the myth that tech entrepreneurs are 31-32 diaper dandies, but — newsflash — there is zero data to support that nonsense.
The truth is entrepreneurs are older, wiser, more experienced, and tougher.
Back to the main thing.
Let’s peel back the sugarcoating — entrepeurship is hard AF and it is not a subtle game. It’s brutal. You have to be strong to succeed.
Even a hard case like you has to recognize the necessity to prepare for the challenge. But, what can you really do to prep for this cage match?
Yes, dear reader. When you are in your late teens and early twenties throw yourself into things with a meaningful risk of failure, things that hurt, that make you sweat, and that you are not sure you can do.
In all that perspiration and cursing, you will find your strengths and you will grow. You will build on failure to achieve success. The lessons of failure are far more instructive than those of success.
Don’t give a thought to what talents you think you might have or what industry you might ultimately work in, just get into the pit and grind. Release the hounds!
Look, I’m not talking about serving Thanksgiving meals to the homeless though that is noble and something you should do. Find things that will test your grit, your brain, and your soul. Leave it all out there on the field.
In my case, I went to a military school, ran into the buzz saw of studying engineering and math, and went into the Army in the toughest branch, the combat engineers. Everything I ever needed to know to found, build, and run a company, I learned as a combat engineer company commander and at elite, tough leadership schools in the Army. Those elite schools were brutal, but they left me unbreakable and confident. They forced me to measure myself against excellence.
More than 75% of startups fail and that means there are a lot of entrepreneurs left on the sidelines licking their wounds. Only the strong survive.
Here’s the payoff — life doesn’t get easier, you get stronger. You build your strength on successively more difficult challenges until you are unbreakable.
Iron sharpens iron. Hard times make hard men. Hard men succeed.
Do hard things when you are in your late teens and early twenties and get strong.
Life doesn’t get easier, you get stronger, tough, savvy, and unbreakable.
But, hey, what the Hell do I really know anyway? I’m just a Big Red Car.
