6 Tips for Older Entrepreneurs

When you have a business idea that feels spot-on and shows the potential to scale, age shouldn’t matter. After all, there are examples of successful founders across the age spectrum. That said, more years of experience can provide advantages.

Who has more experience?

Those who’ve spent decades in their industry, honing decision-making and execution skills.

So, if you think you are too old to found a successful company, keep reading.

There are unique advantages to starting a company later in your career. Data shows that founders aged 50 are twice as likely to be more successful than someone at 30. And someone at 60 is three times more likely to achieve success. Moreover, investors who previously coveted only under-30 founders are now giving older entrepreneurs a shot. 

Valuing Experience

Primetime Partners is an early-stage venture capital (VC) firm focused on building new products, services and experiences for older adults, the fastest-growing global population segment. Not only is Primetime Partners seeking founders who have solid proof of concept, but they also want to champion older adults as founders or key members of founding teams.

“At Primetime, we believe older adults have the experience, wisdom, network and ambition to be successful entrepreneurs,” said Primetime’s Managing Partner and Co-founder Abby Miller Levy.

That’s why Levy and her partner Alan Patricof offer six tips to increase funding opportunities for older entrepreneurs.

• Engage Your Network. Your professional network is a tremendous asset. Founders who have spent a couple of decades or more in their industry can find the resources they need when they begin with a simple ask. “Invite leaders in your industry to be an advisor or investor, reach out to a former colleague to get feedback and refer you to potential customers and ask former employees to join your effort,” said Levy. “Engaging your network demonstrates not just how resourceful you are, but also that you are an effective leader who has a track record of fans and followers.”
• Consider a Co-Founder. “Know your strengths and recognize where you have gaps,” said Levy. “While you can always hire an executive to oversee product, sales or operations, creating a co-founder role can help you to hire better talent and to share responsibility so you can move to market faster.”
• Go Bigger. When sharing revenue forecasts and unit economics, Levy’s observation is that older founders can be overly cautious. “Perhaps because of all those years of presenting corporate budgets, these founders are accustomed to under-promising and over-delivering.” While the conservative approach is the best way to run a finance organization, Levy’s guidance is to take care not to mute investors’ interest. Consider presenting both a base case and a growth case to show you are swinging for the fences. Investors don’t want to see a gradual build. They want to know founders are willing and capable of simultaneously building product and sales. Instead of focusing on perfecting the product, embrace the idea of being good enough so you can move to market faster.
• Proof of Concept. Launch digital surveys and quickly get a feel for user or consumer demand for a product or service. If you’re building a consumer product, 3d printing and prototyping provide quick feedback. If you are not sure why this is important, consider partnering with someone who does because investors expect it. “With a few thousand dollars of digital marketing spend, you can show investors who your target consumer is, how much they want or need your business and a rough sense of acquisition cost,” Levy advised. “And yes, there’s even a startup designed to help you beta test the concept. If your business sells to an enterprise customer, you can demonstrate demand through a confirmed pilot partner, letter of intent to purchase or even a pipeline list of the sales conversations had to date.” 
• Presentation Matters. Don’t rely on investors to have great imaginations; allow them an opportunity to see and touch the product to know its potential. Some founders coming from industry may think this requires an advertising firm that they can’t fund. “This is about getting comfortable with the resources easily available,” explained Levy. “Go to 99 Designs, Upwork or Fiverr to get professional product mockups, logo and brand identity and to create a video of how your product works. These visual touches reinforce the message that you can execute swiftly and are ready to go.” 
• Find a Founders Community. Unless you come from the startup world or are in an MBA program learning about VC, watching friends launch start-ups and meeting people who have worked in VC, you have some catching up to do. Not to worry, there are plenty of resources for this, too. “Founders are an efficient learning circle – sharing ideas, resources, shortcuts and pitfalls,” Levy said. “Most founders in an industry category or geography have MeetUps, connect via Slack channels or associate with local venture capital or entrepreneurship associations.”

Interested?

One thing to consider when approaching a VC firm like Primetime Partners is that they do not invest in ideas. They invest in an exciting proof of concept and business model that shows scalability.

If you’re still in the idea stage, Levy’s suggestion is to determine how much money you need to get to a viable proof of concept. Then look for ways to self-fund – whether you take on credit card debt, borrow from family and friends or find an Angel investor.

With a solid proof of concept, a nicely branded pitch deck and an attitude that conveys you’re ready, it’s time to get in front of an investor, possibly even Abby Levy!

This story for first published on Forbes.com and has been revised for this platform.