Age and Entrepreneurs

George T. Wittman’s latest blog post

These days in the startup world, the entrepreneur is imagined as young and fresh-faced, straight out of college with some brilliant idea and a hip new company.  However, that doesn’t mean that age really has anything to do with a successful company, and people have tried to figure out correlations between an entrepreneur’s age when they launched their startup and whether or not said startup was successful.  Studies have been done by numerous foundations, institutions and universities.  What they have discovered is that the average entrepreneur is 40 when they launch a startup.  People over the age of 55 are twice as likely as people under 35 to launch a high-growth startup, and the average age of a successful startup with over $1 million in revenues was 39.  Ultimately, age was less of a factor in entrepreneurial success than previous startup and industry experience.

The age that successful entrepreneurs launched their companies is wide indeed, ranging from 20 (Facebook and Microsoft) to 53 (McDonald’s).  While experience is a key factor to success, it’s not required; just look at Facebook, Microsoft and Apple (none of these founders were older than 21).  The most important factor for success seems to be how invested you are in the business and how passionate you are about it.  Nonetheless, many investors will be reluctant to invest in a first-time CEO, as they tend to make a lot of mistakes.  However, there are plenty of exceptions to this rule; the largest Harry Potter fan site, Mugglenet, was founded by a 12 year-old, yet has over 10 million unique visitors a month.

While age might not necessarily matter for entrepreneurial success, experience does, and that comes with age.  Smart entrepreneurs who might lack experience could benefit from surrounding themselves with experienced mentors.

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Success With Generation Z

George T. Wittman’s latest blog post

There’s been a lot of talk about millennials these days, as they graduate from college, go out into the workforce and make a name for themselves.  Businesses have been working to accommodate these millennials, but a truly mindful entrepreneur will be looking even more toward the future, to the so-called “Generation Z”.  I recently came across an article about how businesses can prepare to accommodate and profit from this new generation.  This is especially important, since many of them are starting to come of age as consumers.  One big thing that the article focused on was the importance of online shopping, but there were other points that they addressed.

One thing that the author pointed out was that Generation Z will most likely not have any brand loyalty.  They tend to lean toward companies with superior goods and services, and tend to rely more on their peers’ opinions and recommendations than ads.  While this is problematic for big companies with multi-million-dollar marketing budgets, it’s good news for smaller companies.  The article discusses some of the good business strategies for people trying to get Generation Z on their side.

More so than Millennials, Generation Z will be completely reliant on social media and mobile devices for content consumption, browsing, shopping and interaction with friends.  Because of this, your business strategy needs to focus on this market.  This will include having a mobile-friendly website and a good strategy that will consistently engage with customers through social media.

If you can create a value in your products through superior-quality design and manufacturing, this will elevate the reputation of your company, which is an important attribute to Generation Z.  It won’t be enough any more to create value just through branding, since they will see through this and ultimately call you out.

Generation Z will demand that companies be honest and transparent with them.  Between social media a peer reviews, companies won’t be able to hide from negative press or controversies.  Rather, they should be ready to face these challenges head-on with a well thought out, expedited strategy for dealing with the inevitable conflicts.

What’s unique about Generation Z is that they appreciate individuality while also placing a great emphasis on group acceptance.  It’s a complicated balance, that baffles plenty of people.  Nonetheless, you have to learn to use it.  Embrace new and unique tastes to help your company connect better with this generation.  Your company should think about hiring and listening to individuals from his generation as part of your marketing (when they’re old enough).

You should never assume that the same conveniences of your generation will be enough for Generation Z.  They’ll be demanding the convenience to browse, shop and receive customer service through mobile and social media channels, so that your strategy, whether it’s marketing, operations or human-resource management, needs to keep it in mind.

The collection and use of extensive data has been a big topic recently.  While plenty of companies regularly collect and use customer data to tailor shopping experiences, Generation Z will be a lot more tech-savvy, with a better understanding of how to control the data that they share.  Because of this, businesses will need to respect privacy to a greater extent, otherwise they could risk losing customers to other companies who will.

One example of a successful company working to take advantage of younger generations is Under Armor.  When they started, their goal was to overtake Nike as the top sporting goods company, which was no easy task.  Instead of trying to compete with them head-to-head, Under Armor instead went after youths who had not yet developed a brand loyalty to Nike.  By aggressively going after youth sports, then growing with their consumers to help supply college teams and eventually professional sports teams, they nurtured a large and loyal base of customers, while also making exceptional products.  Many businessmen are concerned about the challenges that Generation Z will pose, but companies with the patience to deal with them properly will benefit greatly from it.

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Situation Escalates in Iraq

George T. Wittman’s latest blog post

In the past couple years, there hasn’t been that much news about the situation in Iraq; indeed, it seemed like everything had stabilized.  However, in the past couple weeks, the region has once again turned into a battleground, as a militant Sunni group operating out of Syria, known as ISIL, has seized a large chunk of western Iraq in a lightning sweep south toward the capital of Baghdad.  Their ultimate goal is to recreate a medieval caliphate carved out of fragmenting Syria and Iraq.  In response, Iraq’s most senior Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has urged his followers to take up arms and defend themselves against the advance of Sunni militants.  People who are capable of carrying arms, said al-Sistani, should volunteer, to join security forces and repel the terrorists from Iraqi soil.  Those killed while fighting ISIL militants would be hailed as martyrs.

ISIL miltants marching.

Yesterday Obama threatened military strikes against ISIL, highlighting the danger that this group, who have threatened to redraw borders in an oil-rich region, pose.  In the chaos, Kurdish forces have taken control of Kirkuk, an oil hub just outside of their enclave that they have long viewed as their traditional capital.  Just yesterday, after seizing Mosul and Tikrit, ISIL entered two towns in the province bordering Iran.  The two towns, Saadiyah and Jalawla, had fallen to the Sunni insurgents after government troops fled their positions.  In response, the Iraqi army fired artillery shells at Saadiyah and Jalawla from the nearby town of Muqdadiya, sending dozens of families fleeing towards Khaniqin, near the Iranian border.

Yesterday, Obama said that he was considering “all options” to support Iraq’s Shi’ite-dominated central government that took full control after the end of US occupation back in 2011, a full eight years after the Americans entered the region.  In response to a question about air strikes, Obama said he isn’t ruling out anything, due to the need to make sure that these jihadists don’t gain a permanent foothold in either Iraq or Syria.  Nonetheless, US officials said that US ground forces would not be returning to Iraq.  This incident marks a rapid escalation in a conflict that is threatening civil war and the potential break-up of Iraq.

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