This week I read a fascinating article in the Wall Street Journal about people in their 70s who are launching new businesses. The stories were inspiring. A 71-year-old actor partnered with a 77-year-old attorney to teach trial lawyers how to be more engaging. Others are addressing problems they’ve observed for decades but finally have the freedom to tackle or are turning personal passions like fitness into profitable pursuits.
According to the research highlighted in the piece, nearly 30% of employed people in their 70s work for themselves, almost double the share of self-employed people in their 60s. That translates to approximately 1.3 million septuagenarian entrepreneurs in the United States alone. These aren’t just people trying to stay busy in retirement. They’re individuals leveraging decades of contacts, expertise, and hard-won insights to create new products and services.
The article got me thinking about a limiting narrative that pervades our culture. There’s an idea that innovation, creativity, and bold new ventures are the domain of the young. We’re told that entrepreneurs peak in their 20s and 30s, that older adults are risk-averse, out of touch with current trends, and past their creative prime. But this characterization misses something fundamental about human potential and the psychology of building something new. Many of the psychological characteristics that support entrepreneurship don’t get weaker with age. In fact, they tend to get stronger.
Research shows that older adults report better mental health than younger generations, experience a greater sense of meaning in life, and generally maintain a more positive outlook. These aren’t trivial advantages. They’re foundational to the kind of sustained effort and resilience required to build something new.
Consider what decades of life experience provides. You gain a deeper understanding of human nature and what drives people, the emotional regulation skills to handle setbacks without catastrophizing, the confidence that comes from having navigated challenges before, and often the financial stability to take calculated risks.
When someone decides to start a business later in life, they’re drawing on years of observation about what’s missing in the market, what frustrates them as consumers, or what could genuinely improve people’s lives. As the Wall Street Journal article noted, the desire to create products that improve others’ lives often becomes more important as people age. This represents a shift in motivation that can make older entrepreneurs particularly focused on meaningful impact.
Being entrepreneurial isn’t solely about starting a traditional business. As I discussed in a previous newsletter, the entrepreneurial mindset has benefits that extend far beyond the business world. It involves taking initiative, solving problems creatively, and pursuing projects that feel meaningful. This orientation can enrich virtually any area of life. An employee who finds innovative ways to improve their organization is applying an entrepreneurial mindset. So is an artist experimenting with new techniques, an educator rethinking how to reach students, or someone starting a community group to tackle local challenges.
In a previous newsletter, I explored how friendships across generations benefit both younger and older adults. Intergenerational connections help combat ageism, provide mentorship opportunities, and create mutual learning experiences. This is relevant here because these same dynamics can enhance entrepreneurial partnerships. Older adults bring institutional knowledge, extensive professional networks, strategic thinking shaped by experience, and often a clearer sense of what truly matters. Younger adults bring technological fluency, energy, and fresh perspectives.
Organizations and entrepreneurial ventures that focus on finding young talent should also actively seek to recruit older talent, not as a charitable gesture but as a strategic advantage. Companies and projects that recognize the unique strengths of older builders can position themselves to create more sustainable and meaningful innovations.
The data on septuagenarian entrepreneurship tells an important story. It reveals that the desire to build, create, and make a difference doesn’t fade as we age. The psychological and experiential resources we accumulate over a lifetime can be powerful assets for those bold enough to pursue new ventures.
The broader message here is one of human agency and potential across the lifespan. Whether you’re in your 20s or your 70s, the builder’s mindset is available to you. And if you’re on the older end of that spectrum, remember that you bring strengths to any project that younger people are still developing. You are never too old to build something new.
Have a great weekend!
Clay