
Well first of all let’s consider this as a question that whether one should start a business at a very young age?
If this question is coming in your mind, I must say that you are among a few individuals who are even thinking of a business at a very young age. So, congratulations.
Now coming back to the answer of this question, I think it is great to start your business at a very young age. Specially if your dream is big or if you want to build business like an empire. There are many factors which when blend together creates a big and successful business such as Money, Marketing, perseverance, Team etc. but most important undoubtedly is TIME. Every factor will mature in the due time and you have to make a perfect blend of it for your business to succeed.
Let’s take a few examples of big businesses and their owners who started early:
Bill Gates: Bill gate started at the age of 20 and created a successful business “Microsoft” whose turnover is more than INR 20 lakh crore in year 2024. He once said to students that “feeling challenged early in his career helped him be successful”. He also mentioned that starting early can lead to better decision making and increased productivity.
Elon Musk: Most people know that Elon musk founded his fist company at the age of 24. His net worth is approx. INR 33 lakh crore in Dec’24. But many of you may not know that he actually started business at the age of 12 when he first sold the codes of a video game called Blaster to a computer magazine. According to Musk “Although it might take a while for your business to achieve success, it’s better to start building your business as early as you can”.
Gautam Adani: Gautam Adani of Adani Group, whose net worth is approx. 11.6 lakh crore, started his career at the age of 16 as diamond sorter and at the age of 17 he started as diamond trading business. He once said early experiences made him wise and to acquire wisdom one must experience and to acquire knowledge one must study.
Likewise, there are many business tycoons who started early in age and created fortune over time. Some other names could be:
- Mark Zukerberg (started at the age of 19)
- Steve Jobs (Started at the age of 21)
- Nithin Kamath (Started stock trading at the age of 17 and went on to establish Zerodha)
- Michael Dell (Started Dell company when he was 19)
- Matt Mullenweg (Started WordPress at the age of 19)
- Thomas Edison (started as inventor when he was 21 and founded his company when 22, which later got merged with GE)
Let’s discuss some pros and cons of starting your business early
Pros:
Fewer Responsibilities: Well, most people do not realize until it’s too late that taking moves and decisions is easy and fast when you don’t have too much of responsibilities like financial obligations, family, children etc. At early age you have the freedom and flexibility to take decisions and risks to pursue your creative ideas.
More Energy and Passion: Youngsters often have unmatched energy and passion towards their interests. This energy if channelled for right purpose can do wonders. Young age allows you to put enough time, learn new skills quickly to take advantage of these in your venture.
Time: As they say Rome was not built in a day, every great business takes time and efforts to scale it to the level where it becomes an example for others.
Business ideas are perishable: Business ideas are perishable and will loose their value if not pursuit in time and there might be someone else making fortune out of your idea.
Cons:
Limited Access to funding: At times young talent face difficulty in accessing funds for their business. However, it is said if your idea has worth, money will follow.
Limited Life experience: At early age you may not have enough experience to identify and manage the potential risks. However, with right professional guidance you can mitigate this challenge.
Conclusion
To grow a business to a great height you have to have an idea, perseverance and right resources. Time is another factor which decides what height you can achieve in your business. Businesses are generally measured based on CAGR (Compounded Annual Growth Rate), of course growth is important and for growing business time is very important. For example, if your business grows by 20% CAGR and you have 20 years to grow your business then you can grow it by 31 times, while if you grow by same rate but you have 40 years then you can grow the same business by more than 1200 times. This is the importance of role of time in growth of your business. SO START, Where you are, Use what you have, Do what you can.
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