Updated: August 26, 2021
The average age of entrepreneurs is 40 years old. This is the arithmetic mean age when people started their most successful business or launched a high-growth startup.
This age is the result of research and studies done in the Kauffman Foundation, Duke University, the Founder Institute, and many others.
Does this mean that a lot of people start a business at the age of 40? No. Contrary to one’s initial impression, what this actually tells us is that business success can come at any age.
Because if the global average for entrepreneurs is 40 years old, then it means that for every 20-year-old startup founder, there’s probably a 60-year old business pioneer.
Entrepreneurial Success at Any Age
At the age of 19, Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook.
At the age of 20, Bill Gates founded Microsoft.
At the age of 21, Steve Jobs created Apple.
At the age of 22, Walt Disney began his animation studio.
At the age of 25, Larry Page developed Google.
At the age of 25, Akio Morita established Sony.
At the age of 26, David Packard formed HP.
At the age of 26, Phil Knight launched Nike.
At the age of 28, Eugene Schueller built L’Oreal,
At the age of 28, Pierre Omidyar set up eBay.
At the age of 30, Erling Persson started selling clothes that would become H&M.
At the age of 30, Fusajiro Yamauchi made Nintendo.
At the age of 31, Chester Carlson started Xerox.
At the age of 33, James Gamble founded Proctor & Gamble.
At the age of 35, William Boeing created his plane company.
At the age of 36, J.C. Jacobsen founded Carlsberg.
At the age of 37, Doris Fisher launched Gap.
At the age of 37, Milton Hershey started selling chocolates.
At the age of 39, Amancio Ortega set up Zara.
At the age of 40, Henry Ford formed his car company.
At the age of 41, Asa Candler built Coca-Cola.
At the age of 42, Jerry Baldwin gave the world Starbucks.
At the age of 44, Sam Walton built Walmart.
At the age of 45, Thomas Edison registered General Electric.
At the age of 48, Bernard Marcus set up Home Depot.
At the age of 48, Adolf Dassler created Adidas.
At the age of 51, Chung Ju-yung established Hyundai Motor.
At the age of 52, Joseph Campbell began serving soups to the world.
At the age of 52, Henri Nestle formed what is now the largest food company.
At the age of 54, Estee Lauder became an entrepreneur.
At the age of 56, Ferdinand Porsche entered the car business.
At the age of 59, Kawasaki Shozo started his business empire.
At the age of 61, Charles Flint founded IBM.
At the age of 65, Colonel Harland Sanders formed Kentucky Fried Chicken.
These are just a drop of names from the vast sea of entrepreneurs who made history with their business success.
And the question now is, when are you going to start your own business?
What to do next: Click here to subscribe to our FREE newsletter.
Wow
PROOF, that it really is never too late!!! I am a 65 Y/O EXpat living here in the Philippines. Many would say, “Jack, just sit back and enjoy that retirement you worked so hard for.” Honestly, even with setbacks like becoming a widower 15 years ago, life is still rolling. God gave me a second chance at happiness with my beautiful bride of three years. My wife had always pushed limits and tested new ideas. I insisted on a debt free and financially secure base to work from. After that base was established, I encouraged my wife to “GO FOR IT.” With our financial base secure, I said to my wife that the most we could lose was the seed money to begin and if we failed we might get the bulk of that back the way she structured her ideas. I assured my bride that “we will still eat, still have a roof over our heads no matter what happens.” I said, “Honey, we can afford to be aggressive now.” I can tell you that two of our projects really took off and are growing exponentially. Forget retirement, working with my wife at things we love to do is WAY TOO MUCH FUN!!!