Starting Up Smarter: Why Founders Over 50 Build Better Companies - Softcover

Cronin, Mary J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1737989301 ISBN 13: 9781737989301

Publisher: 4Q Catalyst, 2021

Synopsis

Why are older entrepreneurs four times more likely to start a successful new company than founders in their 20s? How do small businesses with a social purpose consistently outperform venture-backed startups?

Starting Up Smarter delves into studies of entrepreneurship success and business growth at over 2 million US companies and data from hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs around the world, to answer these questions. The surprising results add up to essential ingredients for startup success in the 21st-century.

In Starting Up Smarter, entrepreneurs who have built profitable, socially valuable businesses share their experiences and reflections about launching companies in healthcare consulting, sustainability and solar energy solutions, franchise ownership, restaurants, publishing, water filtration, and more. Their stories include:

• Wendy Gutterson, who quit her healthcare executive position to start a consulting firm from home, and expanded her team during the pandemic to serve over 100 physician practice clients, with 100% of her business generated by word-of-mouth referrals.
• Paul Tasner, a first-time entrepreneur at 66, whose vision for recyclable consumer packaging was rebuffed by investors, leading to a business model pivot, outsourced manufacturing partnerships, and an innovative digital marketing strategy to attract global consumer brand clients.
• Bill Behrens and his co-founders at ReVision Energy who bootstrapped their solar energy firm and achieved a “Best in the World” benefits corporation (B-Corp) rating, while bringing in over $80 million in annual revenues.
• Jeffrey Harris, whose dream of ending animal cruelty with sustainable vegan fast food inspired a search for co-founders and investors to launch the Plant Power Fast Food restaurant brand.
• Bryan Eagle, who switched career paths to co-found a company that transforms agricultural waste into a water filtration media that reduces both pollution and global water scarcity.
• Doug Peck becoming a business franchise owner at 64, motivated by caring for his own parents to launch a Seniors Helping Seniors company to provide home care services.
• Caroline and Garry Myers, a husband and wife team who built Highlights for Children into a thriving family-owned business now led by their great-grandson Kent Johnson, who reflects on the company’s early days of near bankruptcy, resilience and the founding vision that has since touched millions of lives.

In this book you will learn:

• What experienced entrepreneurs wish they had known when they started their companies.
• That when it comes to starting a company, age and experience are an advantage.
• How to attract inter-generational talent to your business
• Why social purpose and sustainability are strong foundations for attracting startup support, accelerating company growth, and insulating your business against economic downturns.
• The rewards of achieving your business purpose

Do you have a vision for change that could become a profitable, purposeful enterprise?
To find out what it takes, look inside Starting Up Smarter: How Founders Over 50 Build Better Companies.

Editorial Reviews
Mary Cronin masterfully demonstrates that people who start and run a business later in life possess a powerful cocktail of ambition, savvy, networks, purpose, and life experiences that leads to entrepreneurial success and personal satisfaction. I highly encourage you to read this book to be inspired by their stories and to learn an essential framework for age-inclusive business strategies that work for every generation.
Danielle D. Duplin, co-founder of AGENCY: Worldwide Innovation for Living Longer & Aging Better

Edition details

• Publisher: 4Q Catalyst
• Publication date: 2021
• ISBN 10: 1737989301
• ISBN 13: 9781737989301
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 308