An idea flows from germination of thoughts. An action is the transformation of that idea. An entrepreneurial action involves the process of organizing, managing and assuming the risks that are subsumed in this idea and which propel the action-objective. The elements that drive the entrepreneurial spirit are therefore a combination of an ambitious idea aided by a sense of personal conviction about its successful pursuit. Most people when asked this question - Do you want to own this company ever, would respond in the affirmative. If you were to probe further as to whether they would actually take the risk of setting up shop on their own, you would get no for an answer. It is no secret that working within the comfort zone of a large company is a preferred idea for most. That leaves us with the people that are – let’s consider it for the moment – the risk-takers. Which brings us to what this article attempts to address, that is, which is the right time to pursue your idea, the right age to turn an entrepreneur, is twenty two the right age or is it thirty two, what do you require more to run your business - experience or drive, does age take away the drive to run the show, or do the years in a large corporate add a rounded ability to raw aptitude; which is the right time to, putting it a tad pessimistically, take risks and do your own thing. Is it suitable to bite better when you are younger or chew longer when you are older?

With the increase in entrepreneurial initiatives across India there is a great debate about the right age to begin an entrepreneurial venture. There are two schools of thought that dominate this argument. One school believes in experience being the key factor in deciding to take the jump and hence recommends that to start a business, a person should have a few years of experience behind him. The other school professes that age or experience is no bar, if you have the inclination and ability to make a personal leap of faith. If we were to look for a solution to this debate it would be akin to choosing the more prestigious event between Tour de France and the Paris-Dakar rally. The judgments, if ever we were to arrive at one, would be subjective, based more upon personal choices, preferences and the permutation-set of decisive factors that are of highest critical importance to the evaluator.

Let us examine the two differing opinions one by one. Firstly, let us see the argument about the need to add job-experience before starting out independently. Proponents argue that running a business is a serious job and failures in case of beginners stem from lack of knowledge about markets, incomplete understanding of people and their strengths, inability to integrate business strategies into workable action plans, impatience and other drawbacks that are perceived to be associated with a younger professional. Writes Steven Rogers, the Gordon & Llura Gund Family professor of entrepreneurship at Kellogg School of Management, “Building a business is grueling work, I now advise students that it’s perfectly acceptable to put on a suit and go to work for a company that isn’t their own. I tell them that it’s a good idea to learn the ropes on someone else’s time and someone else’s dime.”

Steven ironically began as a practitioner of the first school of thought and started out early a few years after he had graduated from Harvard Business School. He soon found out the problems of being an entrepreneur early on in his company Akar…. “At Akar, however, I soon learned that building a business was tougher than I had expected – so tough that the Akar story has become a Harvard Business School case study. In an industry that was no more than $100 million, I wasn’t able, as I had planned, to increase revenue through organic growth. It was hard taking business from competitors, and the number of potential retailers was declining. Managing cash flow proved to be a monthly crisis. Collecting from customers was tougher by a factor of 10 than the discussions we had had in finance classes. Instead, I learned that collecting was related to the vagaries of getting and keeping customers, and the entrepreneur’s expectations for those accounts. You may think you are assured of an account, for example, only to get a call saying the customer is dropping you. Businesses, in short, rarely operate according to plan. They are living and breathing organisms that change frequently. After seven years in business, my sales had reached a little less than $5 million and profits were solid, but I concluded that I wouldn’t be able to reach my goal of building a $50 million company in an industry that wasn’t expanding. Those years, however, had allowed me to live and learn the countless realities of entrepreneurship.” Steven returned to teaching at Kellogg. He believes though that entrepreneurship is a major global requirement, but warns that one should turn an entrepreneur only when he is ready for it (by way of age and experience).

(Source http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/news/hits/040903ewo.htm))

You can fail with any function of the business and still have some chance of bouncing back except if and when you fail with people. If you are poor with people you are doomed. There has been a general criticism about young starters that they aren’t as good people managers as older, more experienced people. This is possibly because traditionally, younger people are known to have lesser patience and many of them feel that people need to be assessed solely based on tangible results without delving into the potentialities that can be tapped or introspect qualities that haven’t been optimally used or tested. This is in contrast to their older counterparts who believe in getting their people to focus their energies constructively towards objectives; they are more likely to exchange their problems and personal issues with them by virtue of having seen the varied kinds of problems that arise amongst different people. Writes Mr. Simon Graham Director MWA Design London and Home Counties, , UK in his article about the book ‘The Beermat Entrepreneur’ by Mike Southon and Chris West, (Prentice Hall; contact: mike@beermatentrepreneur.com) ) : Another cliché of entrepreneurship is that you have to be pushy and ruthless. Wiser, older entrepreneurs disprove this. You have to be focused; you have to know where you are going; you have to be able to inspire that vision in others.

(Source http://beyondbricks.ecademy.com/node.php?id=32947) )

As far as dealings with people are concerned, it has also been observed at times that younger professionals, however qualified, do find it difficult to get a serious level of commitment from clients. Employees are more likely to share their personal woes with an older person than a younger one, particularly so in the Indian context where subconsciously, the number of seasons that you have weathered is perceived to be directly proportional to your ability to withstand the next monsoon. In India age, seniority and experience play crucial roles in constructing images that determine type of responses from clients and employees. This perception may dilute in the face of a changed scenario but it’s like a skeptical smirk at the back of the head that refuses to go away.

Sometimes there is a lack of understanding on the part of younger entrepreneurs about organization structures – the working of the informal within the formal and workflow dynamics that can actually affect performance either positively or negatively. This tends to feed idealistic expectations that may not allow a younger person to view workflow and structures in the right manner. A person with greater exposure to the professional workplace understands these dynamics better and does not place his expectations at unrealistic levels and hence is thought to be better prepared. Many young entrepreneurs are not used to handling different business situations or changing situations. Says

Dr Friedrich Georg Hoepfner, Managing Partner of the Hoepfner Brewery and Honorary Chairman of Cyber Forum, “Many young entrepreneurs feel swamped by the fluctuating business situation, the vagueness of customers and the flexibility of competition.”

(Source http://www.cyberforum.de/go/show?=download )

They also may not have the desired market reputation that helps you to network in the face of stiff competition. Some experts aver that a famous degree may get your foot through the door but you need to be able to network better in order to reap better dividends. Years in the industry with a large corporate helps you to get in touch with senior people who can help you later when you start off on your own. An older entrepreneur will always seek to drive home the inherent advantage of an established reputation gained as part of a corporate brand, which a younger starter may lack. An older entrepreneur is expected to know the industry better and hence able to identify gaps. A factor that is agreed to by both schools of thought is the fact that an older guy is better off by way of savings that might help him to override uncertainty or prolonged bad patches. Here, the debate has been whether lack of financial savings can be overcome through safer funding options (through family funds than VCs).

Now to the other school of thought that states that age or lack of experience hold no barriers in negotiating startups. Proponents here argue about the cumulative positives of youth – vigour, drive, work rate etc. One thing they argue is that young people bring in a fresh perspective to the entire idea, which otherwise might be saddled with unnecessary baggage if an older guy were to take it on. A younger guy is thought to have more drive and a certain innovative feel that eludes an older starter whose approach might be influenced by the nature of his experience in the industry. The creative differentiation that an entrepreneur might have to offer has nothing to do with age. Rather, argue certain experts that the great idea is either there within you or it isn’t – experience may not necessarily teach you your dreams and passion. Take the case of Scott Smigler, 22, started Exclusive Concepts Inc.,, a company that provides professional web design and online marketing solutions to growing businesses. He started as a freshman in high school. Smigler ran the company by himself at first, built a reputation among his clients and spread his business through word of mouth. While attending college, he ran the business out of his dorm room until May 2002. Now, he has offices in Burlington, Massachusetts, and a staff of five, and expects to bring in sales of $300,000 in 2003. He straddles the demands between working full-time on his business, maintaining a high GPA as a finance major at Bentley College in Waltham, Massachusetts, and running the entrepreneurship society he co-founded at his school. Writes Sara Price in www.entrepreneur.com,,“Only in America can a 19-year-old kid launch a million-dollar music business from his dorm room and two 17-year-old twins own a media empire worth close to $1 billion. And while it's easy to watch with envy as young entrepreneurs continue to grow up around you and fulfill your entrepreneurial dreams, you really have two choices: You can seethe at their success, or you can put jealousy aside and listen to the advice they have to offer.” Smigler himself has this to say, “So many people allow themselves to get intimidated..; they’re not willing to follow their dreams. It's very important for people to really sit down and recognize exactly what they want out of life—and their business life—and just go for it." (Source - http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/0,4621,312349,00.html) )

Apart from the energy, enthusiasm, creative spirit and dynamic attitude that a young guy is likely to exhibit, there is the advantage of a headstart in time that serves as a cushion period if he were to encounter failure in his first venture. The learning may be through trial and error and he would be expected to come through as a tougher, more resilient fighter after he’d taken the punches. The argument is that it is better to pursue the business you want to set up rather than waste any time on someone else’s business. Time is too precious to be frittered away. You would rather fail doing your own thing and get better as time wore on. If you failed you can always go back, take a degree and then avail of the options before you. In effect, you buy time. In the Indian context, this thought may seem incongruous to some people.

In India, a failure is not treated as a learning experience and is unlikely to be forgotten in a hurry. In such a scenario, a failure will invite negative reactions, whether in an experimental venture or otherwise. The pressures that accompany a young professional seeking out a new career are much more in India.

Therefore, if you have a young Michael Dell (he started very young too) in the US where the system supports the likes of him, it is the lack of similar business and social culture that prevents people to start young in India.

Younger entrepreneurs are less likely to be surrounded by extended familial responsibilities and hence have a lower need for financial security. This is expected to help him focus better. They are also not used to higher paycheques and therefore do not suffer from a state of repentance that an experienced person might have. This state suggests a condition of mind where one is always falling back upon happy memories of the past and exaggerating the current situation in order to chastise the self and seek solace in the past whenever the present is unfavourable. This is a phenomenon that some struggling, experienced entrepreneurs when tested with rough times are known to exhibit. Young people also do not carry the baggage of having dealt with senior people in large organizations. This, apart from having its obvious disadvantages in networking, does have certain benefits in hindsight. They do not allow an obscure ego to cloud the imagination. This may appear like a bleak reason, but ask entrepreneurs who started after a while – they’ll tell you how it seems like when you are grappling to get the telephonic attention of the secretary to a general manager of a corporate giant when you were so used to hobnobbing with vice presidents of bigger multinationals, while at a job.

A young entrepreneur may experiment with systems more in their organizations as they are expected to be more computer savvy. He would also be able to put in far more time into getting the business off the ground, as he is likely to have lesser social commitments.

Having seen the two sides of the coin, the verdict hinges upon whose coin it is. It all boils down to the mental-makeup; personal circumstances, timing, preferences, options available (which may again differ from person to person), readiness to do battle (you may be either twenty two or thirty two and yet not ready), available funds and personal life that acts as the support system to the professional. In this issue of point and counterpoint, the one point that is evidently clear is that there is a fast growing band of professionals who are willing to sow their ideas, till their own businesses and aiming to reap the growth from it. Considering the growing eagerness of professionals to start out independently, there needs to be a better and more structured system required to be put in place to mould these future entrepreneurs of tomorrow. There are some top MBA schools that have programs on entrepreneurship, but it needs to be present in most of the top tier MBA schools in India and abroad. Also, the emphasis needs to also include how students who take up entrepreneurship as a subject, are going to take up their future path, considering that majoring in entrepreneurship currently does not warm you up to major employers and VCs are usually skeptical about funding untested hopefuls. Maybe the solution lay in preparing professionals with certain years of corporate work experience through shorter, intensive courses for a career in entrepreneurship, or the solution may lie in putting a student through the paces as is done in the Venture Initiation Program at Wharton (new students learn skills and concepts of entrepreneurship through execution of initial stages of their business plans for new products or services in a supportive, entrepreneurial environment with professional guidance); or even in helping a young entrepreneur to overcome the real, teething problems in a startup. (Source - http://whartonsbdc.wharton.upenn.edu/vip.html ). The bottomline here remains the ability to be able to stand up to all odds and pursue that idea relentlessly, which you were convinced about when you started. Sir Winston Churchill himself once quipped that `success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.’

This takes us back to where we started. To sum it all up, the question is not whether the chicken is to cross the road but how. The debate over a four-course meal may not be over till it’s served. The proof of it all may ultimately lie in the pudding. The only way we may know is by having the pudding and eating it too (assuming we reach a consensus that entrepreneurship is not a piece of cake!).

(If you ever thought that we had concluded the debate sitting on the fences, you are wrong! We encourage you to pitch in with your ideas and opinions about this topic in the discussions section, and tell us what you feel – to start young or to hold till you’re old (old enough!). Till then we shall hold our pudding!)

Sources for this article:

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/0,4621,312349,00.html

http://www.breadtv.com.au/episodes/02/10/featureStory.asp

http://smartmoves.questacon.edu.au/busmoves/entrepreneur.asp

http://www.zeromillion.com/business/starting/entrepreneur.html

http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item.jhtml

http://www.benlore.com/files/emexpert2_1.html - good link on what are the attributes of a successful entrepreneur.

http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/epic/internet/insbrp-rppe.nsf/en/rd00650e.html - article about young entrepreneurs in Canada

http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/news/hits/040903ewo.htm - By: Steven Rogers, the Gordon & Llura Gund Family Professor of Entrepreneurship. Excellent article by a professor at Kellogg who had run a business enterprise earlier and now teaches Entrepreneurship at Kellogg Business School.

http://www.hbs.edu/entrepreneurship/newbusiness/2004spring_1.html - Harvard Business school article on Rock and Lebor Entrepreneurial Fellowship where students learn working with CEOs of entrepreneurial companies.

http://beyondbricks.ecademy.com/node.php?id=32947 – good article about why you need experience for an entrepreneurial venture.

http://www.cyberforum.de/go/show?=download – piece on entrepreneurial ventures, the problems generally expected and the pitfalls and the preferred approach.

http://www.astp.net/Report_EF_2003.doc

Books on Entrepreneurship

http://www.celcee.edu/abstracts/c19960392.html

The Boardroom Entrepreneur - Mike Southon, Chris West

( http://beyondbricks.ecademy.com/index.php ) )

The Entrepreneurial Experience: Confronting Career Dilemmas of the Start-up Executive by W. Gibb Dyer

( http://www.teneric.co.uk/uk-reviewed/1555424171.html )

Hardcover: Jossey Bass Wiley Price: £19.95

Book Description: Draws on in-depth interviews and case studies to examine the emotional side of business, offering strategies entrepreneurs use to cope with the loneliness, stress, and isolation they often feel. Uncovers the dilemmas that entrepreneurs confront at each stage of their careers--from start-up through retirement--including organizational systems that midcareer entrepreneurs use to maintain control of their growing businesses and how entrepreneurs overcome resistance to retirement and plan for this transition. Explains how entrepreneurs deal with issues such as securing start-up resources, appointing a board of directors, and setting-up organizational systems that mid-career entrepreneurs can use to maintain control of their growing business.