Start Ups and Aged Workers

Thanks for spending some time with me yesterday, Sebastien Eckersley-Maslin, CEO of BlueChilli.

Further to my recent blog on start ups, entrepreneurs and aged workers, Seb had some interesting viewpoints to share with me, and many supporting my previous posts on why the aged worker should be strongly considered in start ups.

"You can't buy experience" - so while there are predominantly younger developers / engineers out there trying their hand at start ups (and notably mainly men), they are craving for mentors / coaches / counsellors.  Seb stressed very strongly they "super hungry for advice" and very welcoming of older participants in their ventures.

Seb warns though its not for everyone.

If you are in the situation of financial stress, many of the start ups are not in a position to pay hard ca$h up front, and therein lies some problems.  The younger market that Seb comes across is living at home, or don't have commitments (kids, mortgages, marriages etc), and so while their flexibility is very high, their pockets aren't necessarily that deep - but that's where potentially we the older worker comes in...

I keep thinking of that scene in The Social Network where Zuckerberg has taken the team out to the valley and they are embedded in a rented house, coding, partying/drinking, gaming and generally having a great time while putting in huge days - I'd have a hard time explaining that to my wife in my current situation! :-).

These young entrepreneurs are looking for an older perspective on business, small and/or large, and they understand and appreciate the battle scars that older workers have.  I was frankly surprised to find Seb's attitude far more open than I'd anticipated (very pleasantly so).

I'm heading to a networking event tomorrow night where I'm hoping to meet a bunch of entrepreneurs and listen (I might learn something!).

In the meantime, Seb gave me great resources to check out which I'll feed out over time.  First of all, check out Pushstart for those of interested in becoming a mentor (I know I am).

Have a great day.
Dom