Successful entrepreneurs are not overly concerned about their ability to compete with their larger counterparts. With few exceptions, large corporations are bureaucracies, with bureaucrats as managers. As already pointed out, their R&D methods focus on the status quo. In addition, large companies have difficulty in creating effective incentives for employees so that they will think entrepreneurial. There is considerable evidence that most workers in today’s huge corporations are simply not engaged in their work. Many, like Jim Halpert from the popular TV show “The Office,” would declare, “This is just a job. . . . If this were my career, I’d have to throw myself in front of a train.”34
The bottom line is that small companies with an entrepreneurial culture can compete and compete well.
Getting Started
starting any type of business career is exciting. Launching one’s own business, how¬ever, can be far more demanding because of the risk and great potential of such a venture. Let’s think for a moment about some special concerns of individuals who are ready to get their feet wet in the exciting waters of entrepreneurship.
AGE AND ENTREPRENEURIAL OPPORTUNITY
One practical question is, “What is the right age to become an entrepreneur?” As you might guess, there is no “correct” answer to this question. The driving factor is not so much age as it is a matter of knowledge and experience. You will need to know and understand the industry you plan to enter, as well as the finances and operations of the business you hope to launch.
Most prospective entrepreneurs must also accumulate at least some of the financial resources needed to launch a business. Some have the impression that start ups are financed with bank loans and money provided by venture capitalists. As you will learn, nothing could be further from the truth. New ventures are financed mostly with a found¬er’s personal savings. This initial investment may then be followed by money from friends and family, based largely on personal relationships and not on the merits of the venture. So, having enough time to accumulate start up money is an important factor in determining when you will be able to launch a new business.
Although the timing will vary according to individual circumstances, conventional wisdom suggests that the ideal age to start a business is somewhere between the late 20s and the early 40s, when a balance exists between preparatory experiences and family obli¬gations. Research conducted by Paul Reynolds shows that the highest percentage of new ventures are launched by entrepreneurs in the 25- to 35-year age group.35 As Tyler Self, co-founder of Vision Research Organization, observes, “It’s about the trade-off between confidence usually characterized by youth and wisdom based on experience.”36
Given both the conventional wisdom and the research findings, members of the demo¬graphic group called Generation X currently would be in their prime for starting and growing new businesses. And according to Tamera Erikson, in an article appearing in Bloomberg Business week, they are doing just that:
Xers want jobs that offer a variety of career paths and allow them to gain fresh, mar¬ketable skills, build a strong network of contacts, and put money in the bank. . . . Xers aspire to run their own entrepreneurial ventures.37
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But conventional wisdom goes only so far. Many people, younger and older, aspire just as strongly to own their own businesses. In fact, a record number of Millennials, otherwise known as Generation Y, who are entering business schools are not interested in traditional careers. Instead, many are writing business plans with the intention of entering the large number of business plan competitions. “It’s a sea of change,” says Thomas Kinnear, director of Michigan’s Zell Lurie Institute of Entrepreneurial Studies.38
Almost 80 million strong, Millennials make up the largest, the most educated, and the most diverse generation in American history. As entrepreneurs, they have been described as follows:39
• They have no fear regarding technology. Many of them cannot even recall life before the Internet.
• They are idealistic and optimistic, and this, in turn, influences their perceptions about business. Their heroes include Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg.
• They are far more collaborative than their predecessors. The idea of being a solo entrepreneur holds little attraction for them. Instead, they start businesses with partners, if not entire teams.
• They frequently build elements of community into their businesses. Matt Mullen¬weg’s wildly successful software company, Automattic, began as an open-source project to create better blogging software. At the time, Mullenweg was a teenager with no experience in software development. He recruited volunteer coders who built, tested, and refined what has become WordPress—one of the most popular blogging platforms—all for no pay.
• They are impatient. Rather than spending large amounts of time on business plans, they throw out something rough, then tweak and experiment.
• They are committed to making the world a better place. For instance, Meraki, a business backed by Google, builds mesh Wi-Fi networks that provide free or low-cost Internet service to poor communities.
• They may start companies in dorm rooms while simultaneously studying entrepreneurship in the classroom. A number of colleges and universities have created funds to provide money to students so that they can develop their ideas.
“One thing that differentiates the young founders is whom they can connect with early on,” says David Cohen, executive director of TechStars, a Boulder, Colorado, incubator that works with Millennial company founders. “People are starting companies at young ages. They fail fast, learn a lot, and keep going.”40
At the other end of the age spectrum, an increasing number of 50- and 60-year-olds are walking away from successful careers in big businesses when they become excited by the prospects of entrepreneurship and doing something on their own. According to the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, for more than a decade, individuals between the ages of 55 and 64 have experienced higher rates of entrepreneurial activity than even their younger counterparts. Like the younger generations, many older entrepreneurs are seeing opportunities to offer products or services for their peers because they feel no one else understands or is interested in the needs of older persons.41 More than the money, their new businesses offer them a chance to work on something they really want and love to do.
So what is the ideal age to get into the game? It’s whenever your passion, experience, and determination collide with an entrepreneurial opportunity