Age and High-Growth Entrepreneurship

Many observers, and many investors, believe that young people are especially likely to produce the most successful new firms. Integrating administrative data on firms, workers, and owners, we study start-ups systematically in the United States and find that successful entrepreneurs are middle-aged,...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Azoulay, Pierre (Author), Jones, Benjamin F. (Author), Kim, J. Daniel (Author), Miranda, Javier (Author)
Other Authors: Sloan School of Management (Contributor)
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: American Economic Association, 2021-02-22T16:21:57Z.
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Online Access:Get fulltext
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100 1 0 |a Azoulay, Pierre  |e author 
100 1 0 |a Sloan School of Management  |e contributor 
700 1 0 |a Jones, Benjamin F.  |e author 
700 1 0 |a Kim, J. Daniel  |e author 
700 1 0 |a Miranda, Javier  |e author 
245 0 0 |a Age and High-Growth Entrepreneurship 
260 |b American Economic Association,   |c 2021-02-22T16:21:57Z. 
856 |z Get fulltext  |u https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/129944 
520 |a Many observers, and many investors, believe that young people are especially likely to produce the most successful new firms. Integrating administrative data on firms, workers, and owners, we study start-ups systematically in the United States and find that successful entrepreneurs are middle-aged, not young. The mean age at founding for the 1-in-1,000 fastest growing new ventures is 45.0. The findings are similar when considering high-technology sectors, entrepreneurial hubs, and successful firm exits. Prior experience in the specific industry predicts much greater rates of entrepreneurial success. These findings strongly reject common hypotheses that emphasize youth as a key trait of successful entrepreneurs. 
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655 7 |a Article 
773 |t American Economic Review: Insights