Entrepreneurs like Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates became legends by succeeding in creating companies that evolved into billion-dollar giants in their teens.
However, the data show that they are the exception to the rule. To be precise, according to a survey by MIT professor Pierre Azoulay, among the 2.7 million people who started businesses from 2007 to 2014, their average age was around 40 years.
In fact, Azoulay found that 50-year-old founders were twice as likely to sell their company or put it on the stock exchange by 30-year-olds.
And the story is full of successful people who took their big step after 40.
THE Vera Wang She was an figure skater and journalist before entering the fashion industry at the age of 40. Although she did not design a single dress before she entered her fourth decade of life, today she is one of the top fashion designers.
THE Donald Fisher He was 40 years old and had no experience in retail when he and his wife, Doris, opened the first Gap store in San Francisco in 1969. Today, it is one of the largest clothing chains in the world.
THE Sam Walton He had a fairly successful career in retail management as a 20-year-old and a 30-year-old, but his meteoric success came when, at the age of 44, he founded the first Wal-Mart in Arkansas in 1962.
THE Gary Heavin was 40 years old when it opened the first Curves gym in 1992. It grew into one of the fastest growing franchise companies of the 1990s.
THE Henry Ford was 45 years old when he created the revolutionary Model T car in 1908.
THE Taikichiro Mori he was an academic before he started investing in real estate at the age of 51. Through the Mori Building Company, he became the richest man in the world in 1992, with a fortune of $ 13 billion.
THE Ray Kroc He spent his career selling milkshake machines before buying McDonald’s first restaurant at the age of 52 in 1954. He turned it into the largest fast-food chain in the world.
THE Laura Ingalls Wilder The first book in the “Little House” series was published at the age of 65 in 1932. The books soon became classics and were based on the television series “The Little House in the Meadow”.
THE Harland Sandersalso known as Colonel Sanders, was 62 when he began franchising Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants in 1952. Twelve years later, he sold the business for $ 2 million.
THE Arianna Huffington founded the Huffington Post at the age of 55. While working in the media and before, the success of her digital version made her famous. HuffPost was sold to AOL for $ 315 million.
Moneyreview with information from Bussines Insider
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