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Nirit Cohen – WorkFutures
Angela Howard – Culture Expert
Drew Jones – Design & Innovation
Jonathan Price – CRE & Flex Expert
The stereotype of the scrappy 20‑something founder launching a startup from a garage or coworking space is enduring — but it’s increasingly out of step with reality. Recent data shows that entrepreneurship in the United States is much more likely to emerge in mid‑career, and even well into later adulthood.
According to demographic analysis, the average entrepreneur in the U.S. is about 44 years old, reflecting the role that experience, networks, and financial stability now play in starting a business.
Entrepreneurship Is Mostly a Mid‑Life Phenomenon
Entrepreneurship doesn’t peak in youth. In fact, older Americans participate in self‑employment at higher rates than younger workers. Nearly three in ten employed Americans in their 70s work for themselves — almost double the self‑employment rate of those in their 60s, according to a Harvey A. Friedman Center for Aging report.
Even among those in their 80s, about 27% are self‑employed, according to Business Insider.
These figures indicate a larger trend: people are living longer, retiring later, and many are choosing entrepreneurship as a way to stay active, leverage decades of experience, or pursue work they find meaningful.
Older entrepreneurship may act as a solution to retirement shortfalls, providing a flexible income stream for those approaching or exceeding traditional retirement age. It may also be indicative of structural issues in the labor market, including age discrimination, stagnant wage growth, and limited opportunities for career reinvention.
In a labor market increasingly affected by AI-driven layoffs and corporate restructuring, self-employment offers a path for experienced workers to maintain both income and relevance.
How Common Is Entrepreneurship?
Entrepreneurship — broadly defined — is a significant part of the U.S. workforce. Roughly 10% of Americans are self‑employed, whether as sole proprietors, gig workers, or small business owners.
Some entrepreneurship studies also count early‑stage founders who are getting their ventures off the ground; one report suggests that around 19% of adults in the U.S. are engaged in early‑stage entrepreneurial activity.
The types of entrepreneurship now emerging vary. Some older founders pursue consulting, freelancing, or business services, leveraging decades of experience rather than building consumer-facing startups.
Others launch true businesses or innovations, particularly in tech, e-commerce, and service industries that require relatively low upfront costs. This hybrid picture suggests that entrepreneurship is both a continuation of the gig economy and a pathway for launching fully independent ventures.
While entrepreneurship isn’t the majority experience, it’s far from rare, and it doesn’t adhere to the youthful image popular culture promotes.
Women Entrepreneurs: Growing But Still Evolving
Women make up a substantial share of today’s entrepreneurial population. Estimates put women at about 45% of all U.S. entrepreneurs, a figure that reflects both progress and ongoing gaps in startup culture.
Patterns by age also differ for women: while women business owners are found across age groups, a large majority are in the 40–59 age range, and only about 30% are under 40.
Why Older Founders Are Rising
Several forces help explain why entrepreneurship skews older today:
- Experience and human capital: Older founders typically bring deep industry experience and broader professional networks, which can be critical in securing financing, customers, and partnerships.
- Lower barriers to entry: Technology has made it easier to start and run businesses without large upfront costs — from online storefronts to digital marketing and remote service delivery.
- Longer working lives: With many people staying active professionally into their 70s and beyond, entrepreneurship becomes an appealing path to shape work around personal goals and lifestyle.
Looking forward, entrepreneurship could emerge as a recognized “third phase” of work. After early career building and mid-career specialization, more people may enter a phase defined by independent enterprise.
This trend could influence how companies plan retirement benefits, workforce planning, and talent pipelines, and could accelerate the normalization of portfolio careers where full-time employment is just one component of a longer professional lifecycle
As people rethink retirement and career transitions, entrepreneurship is increasingly seen as a viable option not just for risk‑tolerant young innovators, but for seasoned professionals seeking autonomy and purpose.
Rethinking the Founder Image
The data paints a very different picture of entrepreneurship than the popular myth suggests. For the workforce, this could signal larger structural changes: an extended professional lifecycle, greater intergenerational knowledge transfer, and new models of flexible work that blur the line between employment and self-employment.
Entrepreneurship may become an integral mechanism for sustaining economic activity and innovation across age groups, not just a niche pursuit for the young.
For anyone thinking about starting a business, the lesson is clear: you’re never too old — and you probably aren’t too young — to be a founder. The heart of entrepreneurship lies not in age but in experience, opportunity, and the drive to build something of your own.
