Entrepreneurship: the New Mid-Life Crisis?

I have been banging-on for ages about the terrific opportunities for companies wanting to exploit the surge of older people who, out of necessity or desire, are starting their own companies.

If anybody needs any more persuading then have a look at what is going on in the US.

Kauffman is an organisation that seems to know a lot about the entrepreneurism and this is what it has to say on the matter.

Over the past decade or so, the highest rate of entrepreneurial activity belongs to the 55-64 age group. The 20-34 age bracket, meanwhile, which we usually identify with swashbuckling and risk-taking youth (think Facebook and Google), has the lowest rate. Perhaps most surprising, this disparity occurred during the eleven years surrounding the dot-com boom—when the young entrepreneurial upstart became a
cultural icon.

In every single year from 1996 to 2007, Americans between the ages of 55 and
64 had a higher rate of entrepreneurial activity than those aged 20-34.

For the entire period, the 55-64 group averaged a rate of entrepreneurial activity
roughly one-third larger than their youngest counterparts with these trends likely to persist.

If you provide any of the services associated with starting or extending a business then you have a ready-made market. Dick Stroud