Green and Grey Entrepreneurs

Interesting discussion I’m following on Linkedin about “older” entrepreneurs. Part of the debate is what is an “older” for an entrepreneur. You can find it here on the Business Owners, Entrepreneurs and Startups Group.

When most of us think about entrepreneurs, the image of pizza chomping college dynamos in garages across America come to mind. But thanks to the aging of America and the fact that few older Americans can afford to retire in this really weird economy, the image has somewhat greyed. 

The reality is that the grey part of entrepreneurialism was always there. They were the financial and facilitating guys the garage bunch teamed with to actually turn their concept into a marketable product. As much as I hated hearing this a young man, I’m 53, experience is gold and essential for success. 

What’s changed today is the total disrespect for older employees. They’re being pushed out of their comfortable downstream positions in favor of younger, cheaper and more eager folks. They’ve worked the system from a downstream position for years and the damned thing has turned on them. This has created a huger angry and very talented experienced pool of folks who are considering the entrepreneurial schtick for the first time. Or at the very least being forced to consider it. This is a game changer. They’re responding by moving upstream to seize more of the pie earlier and even contributing to concepts. Grey entrepreneurs have become a force.

So how does the entrepreneur and investor seize upon this new reality? They take advantage of it is what he or she does. The edgy hoodie wearing garage group, I call them Green Entrepreneurs, are now teaming up with grey experience for a concept that is aligned with the market AND a realistic plan to get to market. One younger entrepreneur I spoke with at a Starbucks' described his slightly greying partner as a wolf is sheep’s clothing. He’s your dad one minute and a wolf when we need it. He also described him opening doors he never thought of knocking on. For investors the team brings experience and stability on top the energy of a cultural insider. 

Lesson here is to expand your network into a cross generational model that take advantage of every possible human asset available. This is what an entrepreneur does anyway, isn’t it? The result is a much more attractive proposal for the investor.


For a second take on the subject, take a look at this SLATE article:


http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2010/12/grownup_startups.html

and this one from the Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-innovations/the-case-for-old-entrepreneurs/2011/12/02/gIQAulJ3KO_story.html