Starting Up Smarter

Book excerpt: Starting Up Smarter: Why Founders Over 50 Build Better Companies delivers a counter-intuitive message about entrepreneurship and startup success. Contrary to the widespread belief that youth is a startup advantage, research shows that older entrepreneurs are far more likely to create socially valuable, profitable, and high-growth companies. Founders over 50 manage more than half of the new businesses launched in the US during the past 5 years. Their stories provide inspiration and insights for entrepreneurs of all ages, and for everyone seeking to change the world for the better. This book analyzes how and why older founders so consistently outperform their younger counterparts by embodying 21st century entrepreneurial imperatives such as positive social impact, shared stakeholder value, and regenerative sustainability. In Starting Up Smarter, entrepreneurs who have built profitable, socially valuable businesses share their experiences and reflections about launching companies with social purpose in healthcare consulting, sustainability and solar energy solutions, home care franchise ownership, restaurants, publishing, water filtration, and more.