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You know what? I would disagree about younger startups and access to capital being a huge barrier.
Younger startups have one huge advance on older person who have a family to support in that they have almost zero outgoings if living at home which mean that they can run a businesses that makes precious little money in the first year or two without the need for funds to support their lifestyle - should they of course chose that sort of a lifestyle.
What i find is a barrier is the sad fact precious few people of the age 16-18 have any savings. This is very much a choice thing whatever anyone might say - no one forces you to make a purchase however little money you have got and there are cheaper alternatives to most things. I speak to quite a lot of younger startups and I don't quite know why this is - perhaps pressure of school work means less part time working or simply that they have never gotten into the habit of saving, and every penny given by Gran for Christmas or earned delivering newspapers is spent. I used to keep 10-20% back and had a small amount of savings at 18 which was originally supposed to be for a car but I didn't get one of those until i left uni. This sort of prudence seems to be an alien concept to many of the people I speak to.
If you have an entrepreneurial mindset I think you can always make money at any age, and so long as you don't fritter it away you can use that to invest in increasingly bigger and better things. I actually think with the boom in internet businesses and help from forums like this that its easier than ever before to make money from the bedroom, whereby in the 1970's or 1980's you simply couldn't have done it like that.
What does hold back the 16-18's however I find it s general lack of awareness of how business "works" having never worked in one! Its also very hard to manage people at a young age which is another barrier to growth and best learned on somone else's staff! Ie I do think a lot of benefit can be gained by working for somone else for at least a few years even if you have PT businesses running along side. Another barrier is basic "trade" skills, at 16-18 you don't tend to have too many saleable skills in the market place which in turn makes it hard to make headway. To do my job for example requires training which takes a minimum of 8 years all in all from undergrad to practicing certificate on the wall.
Anyway a few thoughts which I hope is helpful.
Regards,
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