[nemothekid]

Being 57 and starting a company isn't news worthy. There are plenty of successful, ages entrepreneurs. For example, from the tech crunches unicorn article:

"""

The average age on our list of founders at founding is 34. Yes, the founders of Facebook were on average 20 when it was founded; but the founders of LinkedIn, the second-most valuable company on our list, were 36 on average; and the founders of Workday, the third-most valuable, were 52 years old on average.

"""

http://techcrunch.com/2013/11/02/welcome-to-the-unicorn-club...

If you are asking why, people who has spent the last 10 years of their life on a job that is not obsolete aren't starting startups, its probably because starting a company requires a certain amount of skill and risk that they probably don't have. This 17 year old kid, might have been hacking with computers since he was 13 - which is 5 years of exposure, on his parents dime. I can't say that others have that luxury.

[ChuckMcM]

I disagree that it isn't newsworthy. I feel that it is important to communicate to people that creating a new business is something anyone can do, and while some require "connections" many don't.

I've watched over the years what sometimes seems like a concerted effort to convince people that their votes don't count and they can't get elected to office if they aren't rich or connected. Neither of these things are true but as the 'meme' takes hold people start believing it. They go passive in the face of terrible representatives.

I would hate for the same sort of effect to occur in the startup world, where people were 'trained' to believe that it was impossible for the common person to create a new business, and even trying to do so makes you look stupid for trying to do something so clearly impossible.

One way to counter this effect is to highlight people who start businesses who might be related to by someone who is reading/watching/listening to the story.