When It Comes to Innovating in Tech, Age is Nothing But a Number

By Hadley Catalano

Unencumbered by regulations and potential failure, 35 and under innovators, powered by the unlimited potential of technology, are greatly appealing, prompting investors to jump on the branding bandwagon – but they are not the only show in town. According to Women in Tech Network founder Marina Lee, we are fixated on younger entrepreneurs “because of Silicon Valley successes” and the publicity Millennials receive for their innovations. “With that said, the stats support that there are more mature/experienced entrepreneurs creating successful businesses under the radar,” Lee said.

Successful innovators – and the irrelevance of youth as a factor in entrepreneurialism ¬ – for the high technology and information technology communities has been well documented by Vivek Wadhwa and the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) in the MIT Technology Review. The message is clear: there is no age limit on innovation. The SSRN research team found the average and median age of the founders of successful U.S. technology businesses (with real revenues) is 39, with twice as many founders over 50 than under 25 years old.

“The age of 39 is interesting because it is an age where entrepreneurs are raising families, meaning that they are vetting and building companies that are less risky than their younger counterparts,” Lee said.

Additionally, according to a Kauffman Foundation report by Dane Stangler, successful entrepreneurs, with a “peak age” of 35 to 45, typically come from previous jobs in big companies or from institutions or universities. This observation “runs against the prevailing stereotype that entrepreneurs are, or should be, recent college grads or college dropouts, (but) helps explain the age distribution of entrepreneurs,” Stangler reported.

What Does This Mean For Women?
It can be marginalized road for middle age entrepreneurial women in technology, according to Flavia Sparacino, CEO of Sensing Places, but women are present and their stories need to be told.

“Women are innovating all across the spectrum of new technology companies, as founders, CEOs, heads of marketing, programmers, and as UX designers,” said the entrepreneur, who received her Ph.D. in Media Arts and Sciences from MIT.

“Together and in large numbers, as a community, we can start changing perceptions. Not only can women design and build innovative technology products and lead great teams. The cultural shift we’re aiming for is that women are also actually ‘entitled’ to do so,” said Sparacino.

“I believe that the next step for us as a community of women entrepreneurs in the technology sector is not just to convince others that we’re exceptionally capable and effective but also to overcome deeply hidden prejudices,” she added, calling on women to invest in supportive community building, peer education and mentorship, and the encouragement to cultivate excellence in their respective fields.

“This is deeper than simply assuming that women are ‘good at social media’,” she said, noting that the biggest contribution that experienced women bring to the technology industry is a quality called attunement –the natural ability to respond to market demands, customer’s needs, and build creative distribution channels.

“This is about leveraging women’s social and relational creativity into defining new ways where we can influence others and encourage behaviors that produce value through the innovative products we create.”

The struggle to compete in the tech world for women 35 and older is exasperated when waged against the media darling, Sparacino said – the image of the young college dropout starting a successful technology company.

“I believe it’s great that today young people are so empowered by technology and technical knowledge that they can make an impact early in their path. It is also true, however, that the stories of those who’ve found success later in life, after several twists and turns, can also be inspiring for many, and they are probably also even easier for the majority of readers of tech blogs and magazines to identify with.”

Sparacino’s start-up experience is also more universally identifiable. She launched Sensing Places, a creative technology agency that designs and builds interactive experiences in 2002 at the age of 36, after working as a research assistant at MIT Media Labs from 1994-2001.

“I’ve learned about efficient teams that deliver on time and ideas that matters. I believe this experience is powerful in shaping my thinking today and it helps me select and focus on the most promising ideas and paths for success,” she said about her work at MIT, where she saw how innovation was bred, created, delivered and commercialized. However, despite her strong leadership and know-how in turning a vision into a finished product, enthusiasm and spontaneity, she was unprepared to fulfill the marketing and sales functions of the commercial operations of her startup.

“I found it hard to turn an impressive reputation into a repeatable sales process,” she said about the humbling and growing experiences of managing her own company. “I mistakenly thought that knowing how to make things and reputation were sufficient to run a business. So when the crisis hit in 2008, it forced me to reconsider my approach to running my company.”

Using Maturity to Your Advantage
The anatomy of successful start-up ecosystems, according to Lee and McCurdy, involves the combination of entrepreneurs and leaders, mentors, services and support, access to capital and established community, talent, co-working spaces, and corporate patrons and communications platforms.
By breaking down the anatomical pieces of a successful system, individuals can utilize each component to evaluate if their idea holds merit.

In order to translate an idea into revenue-producing venture requires, as Wadhwa stated, peer collaboration, financing, understanding markets and price products, development of distribution channels, and the ability to handle rejection and failure. In short, he said, business and management skills and maturity come with education, experience, and age.

“With age and experience we tend to focus more on how our work impacts and benefits others as a measure of success – with obvious benefits for the business,” said Sparacino, who noted that success is relative to individual maturity. “Values shift to empowering our team members, showing up on time, sharing, educating, being reliable and accountable. We maintain our love for innovation while embracing risk-taking with wisdom and strategy more than simply ‘challenging the world’ with our raw energy and skills. Minimizing conflict to favor productivity, establishing processes within the company to produce value, setting realistic goals without losing vision and focusing only on things that matter all become easier with experience. I sincerely believe that life after 35 is more about producing real value and less about the ego.”

Paying It Forward
For Lee personally, who started her own business at 23, the key was finding a mentor and following the advice of those who experienced success in similar start-ups. A reciprocating strategy she encourages successful entrepreneurs (of any age) to pass forward in order to promote best practices and foster a collaborative community.

According to Sparacino, it will be through the effort of women of every age to continue to communicate effectively, work hard and work smart within supportive communities to receive equal recognition in the start-up landscape of Silicon Valley.