You're never too old to start up

By James Caan, Guardian Professional, 6-11-2013

Startups are not just for bright young things – age brings indispensible wisdom to new businesses

They say 40 is the new 30. Well, maybe 50 is the new 30. Things are changing, and so is our outlook on the significance of age.

In my opinion, age does not have to be a limiting factor when starting up a new venture. People place perhaps too high a value on being young when discussing creativity and ideas generation. However, not enough importance has been placed on the value of experience, hindsight, and a developed skill set, which is something the older entrepreneur has on their side.

To illustrate this point, we need look no further than the world famous fast-food joint, McDonald's. The burger chain was started by a salesman, who was selling his milkshake mixer to two brothers with a small restaurant in California. Ray Kroc persuaded the brothers to let him buy their franchise, and eventually bought the business from them in 1961. As they say, the rest is history. Because of his vision and understanding of business, Kroc created one of the most recognised brands, kicking off the fast-food culture that was to reverberate across the globe.

So what was it about being fiftysomething that made Ray Kroc different? Well, for starters, he had experience in sales and was a seasoned professional in this regard. There won't be many 20-year-olds who possess the same experience. Many business owners and successful entrepreneurs say: "If only I knew that when I was starting out … with hindsight … looking back actually I would change ..." The more practical knowledge you have, the better decisions you make.

It is important to keep in mind that the lessons learned in the first few years of a startup are unique to that of a new business, and cannot compare to a corporate structure. When working for an established business, there will be systems in place, and people running certain operations, with more senior individuals doing the strategic thinking for the future of the company.

On the other hand, when working for a startup or starting your own venture, there won't be systems in place at the start, often few to no employees, with the strategy for the business ever-evolving. In other words, an entrepreneur has to be a boss, employee and administrator all in one. However, this is not to discount the value of working for an established business. Every experience you have can help you to make the right choices for the direction of your business.

As chair of The Start Up Loans Company, age is no longer a constricting consideration. Now, anyone older than 18 can apply to us for help with starting a business. Not only are we becoming more enterprising as a society, but starting a business is becoming more accessible to the average person. As Mark Twain said, age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.

Start Up Loan recipient Paul Beadle from Manchester decided at 46 to become his own boss with his business Firestopper Limited. A former engineering manager at a national security company, he took the potential setback of the company going into administration as an opportunity to start his own venture.

The great thing is that business has now become an extremely attractive proposition for people across the board, whatever their age. Wherever I go, I pick up on the fact that there is a great appetite for entrepreneurship in this country, and there are great support networks available. The Start Up Loans scheme has gone from strength to strength, and there are additional options, such as crowdfunding. You may have seen this week's episode of The Business Class, where I spoke to the founders of Crowdcube. A platform like this is excellent because it opens up another avenue of funding for entrepreneurs, aside from the traditional banks. The more sources of finance there are, the better it is for the SME community. >>>