Is there a best age to start a business?

Who has the right to say when that best age is to start a business?

Does the timing come down to how much experience you have? or the place where you are in your personal life? or the network that you’ve built?

What goes into factoring when is the best age to start a business?

This is a question that I’ve thought about from time to time and have heard others provide their feedback on.

And it’s a popular topic that’s discussed in leading publications such as Entrepeneur, Inc, and Forbes. Of course, everyone has a slightly different opinion based off a number of different factors.

My Experience in Starting Businesses

I started my first business when I was 16 years old. It was a landscaping business that I ran out of my childhood home with the majority of my clients being within walking distance so it was easy for me to bring my lawnmower, weed wacker, and gas along with me.

I was able to turn the business into a regular stream of income for me as I went through high school servicing sometimes up to 10 customers per week. It was a great look into the world of entrepreneurship for me and I would not have come up with the idea had my first job not been with my cousin who had built an even bigger landscaping business.

I started my second business while in college at the age of 20. With school almost over, I was able to attach myself a bit more to this one and really ride the entrepreneurial wave. For 4 years, I built up the business with my partners to sell over $25 million online. It was an extremely eye opening experience that I don’t think I could have had if I went to a traditional corporate job out of college.

I started my third business at the age of 25. I was a bit more mature and entering a new stage in my life. I had learned lessons from the first two businesses that I started and I was determined to make the third one really count. Make it a business that could survive in the long run and that didn’t depend on anything else than my hard work.

If you can’t see the trend yet, I’ll be starting businesses for my entire life…teens, 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, and even in my 70s. It’s what I’m passionate about and the way that I prefer to live my life.

But that doesn’t answer the question,

What is the best age to start a business?

Factors to Consider When Determining the Best Age to Start a Business

Without a framework to approach this question, anyone’s answer would be very arbitrary.

Some may think that it’s obvious that you should start a business as early as possible because you have much less risk when you are younger, but does that business have less chance of success because you are so young?

Similarly, others may think that you should gain valuable experience in the corporate world for 5 to 10 years and hone your skills before starting a business so that you are fully prepared to be an entrepreneur.

No one answer is right and so I turn to look at factors that may impact which age is best to start a business.

Factor #1: Risk

There is always risk when starting a business. Whether you’re in your 20s or you’re in your 50s, there is always a risk that starting a business won’t work out.

The question becomes, when is the best time to take that risk and when can you most afford it?

Personally, I think that this factor of risk favors starting a business in your 20s or early 30s as you don’t have much at risk yet. You most likely don’t have a family yet, you may not be married, and you don’t have a significant amount of money that you’re risking by putting it into the business.

If you’re older and already have a family that is depending on your income, it is a much larger risk to quit your job to start a business. If it all goes to shit, you’re in big trouble and you end up crawling back to a full time job.

Conclusion: With risk, it’s best to start a business when you are in your 20s and early 30s. 

Continue reading this column on ConnorGillivan.com to learn the remaining two factors to consider when determining the best age to start a business!