Too much public discussion still treats entrepreneurship as if it were designed around a narrow founder stereotype. The evidence shows that age shapes not only who starts a business, but what support, finance and opportunities they need to succeed.
Professor Ute Stephan, Professor of Entrepreneurship at King’s Business School
07 May 2026
There is no 'best age' to start a business: How entrepreneurship changes with age
King’s Business School research finds entrepreneurs face different strengths and barriers across the lifespan, challenging one-size-fits-all support.
Entrepreneurship is often portrayed as a young person’s game, but new research co-authored by Professor Ute Stephan at King’s Business School suggests the reality is far more complex.
Published in the Journal of Business Venturing, the review looks at a decade of research on age and entrepreneurship and finds that entrepreneurial motivations, performance and persistence shift across the lifespan.
Professor Stephan, along with colleagues at York University’s Schulich School of Business, Neoma Business School, and Tilburg School of Economics and Management, found that younger entrepreneurs often bring resilience and innovation but may lack capital, networks and management experience.
Midlife appears to be a particularly important stage for ambitious entrepreneurship, while older entrepreneurs can benefit from accumulated expertise and stronger networks, even as they face age-related stereotypes and discrimination.
The findings come as policymakers and support organisations pay growing attention to how senior entrepreneurs can be better supported. In March, the European Microfinance Network highlighted Professor Stephan’s contribution to a panel on how older founders can thrive.
The review finds that different stages of life bring distinct advantages and constraints. Younger entrepreneurs often lack resources and credibility, midlife founders face competing financial and caregiving pressures, and older entrepreneurs benefit from experience and networks but encounter age-related bias.
Professor Stephan added:
“We still design entrepreneurship ecosystems around the idea that younger is better and faster growth is the goal. But that overlooks the reality that midlife entrepreneurs are often constrained by care and financial responsibilities, and that older entrepreneurs can be highly capable and successful in different ways. If we want a more effective and inclusive system, we need to rethink both who we support and how we define success.”
Speaking at a recent Global Institute for Women’s Leadership event, Anne Boden reflected on her own experience building Starling Bank later in her career, describing how not fitting the expected founder profile made raising finance significantly harder.
I was a woman, middle-aged and had a corporate career. Those three things together were the kiss of death. For two years and 300 meetings, nobody would invest in me… not even £50,000.
Anne Boden, Founder of Starling Bank
Anne added that founders who do not match the typical investor stereotype often face more scrutiny and must work harder to secure backing:
“The only advice I can give is you’re just going to do more meetings… it is really tough... but you learn something in each meeting.”
Persistence can pay off. Anne raised over £750 million for Starling Bank. Her experience reinforces the review findings that entrepreneurship past midlife can be highly impactful as expertise and skills are deployed but constrained by structural biases in access to finance and support.
You can read the full paper, Entrepreneurship, age, and the lifespan: Taking stock and avenues for future research, by visiting the Journal website.
In this story
Professor of Entrepreneurship