Midlifers is a "nice" term applied to the large population referred to as Baby Boomers. Typically defined as being 43-61 in 2007, the first member of this group recently applied for Social Security. Much is known and more speculated about this group, from Social Security going bust as a result of their eligibility, to their propensity to continue working beyond what has generally become defined as "normal retirement age." Wikipedia has an indepth look at this demographic here: More than a handful will be entrepreneurial and become involved in startups. Iconoculture suggests their favorite "indulgences are food, travel, creature comforts, tech toys, fun fitness, hobbies and a well-feathered nest for entertaining. With life expectancy growing, Boomers' focus is on health and hipness quotients to fight "old" aging and keep them in the game." This group should be of central interest to multiple special interest groups, from governmental agencies to universities to younger entrepreneurs. They weld enormous market power - Wikiopedia states "In 2004, the UK baby boomers held 80% of the UK's wealth and bought 80% of all top of the range cars, 80% of cruises and 50% of skincare products.[12]" - and will become a force to addressed, as well as a huge opportunity. It is this group that this preliminary research addresses.
First, we need a more precise term to refer to this new class of entrepreneurs. Words like aging-, or older- or elderly- or mature- entrepreneurs tend to be rejected by boomers as not applying to them. In the UK, the terminology "Silver Entrepreneur" seems to be on the rise. So let's start by referring to this evolving group of entrepreneurs as Midpreneurs, or MPs for short. A working definition for sure. A former market professor stated before studying any group, we should attempt to "put a face" on it. Here's a quick profile from here:
Boomers number some 450
million worldwide (source: MIT AgeLab).
The world's population is
aging at a staggering rate. The 50+
population is the fastest growing segment worldwide and predicted life
expectancies are at a historical high. An American turns 50 once every
seven seconds. Within the next few years, 50% of the European Union's
population will be 65+. By 2030, in Italy, retirees will outnumber
active workers. By 2050, the median age in Thailand will rise to 50.
(Source: MIT AgeLab.)
In the UK, over-50s are
currently 20 million strong, growing fast, and hold 80% of the nation's
wealth (source: BBC).
Estimated annual spending power of baby boomers is more than USD 2
trillion. Younger boomers (born 1956-1964) spend most of their money on
their children and the mortgage. Older boomers (born 1946-1955), many
of whom are empty nesters, put their money into upgrading their homes
and on clothing, spending 13% and 11% more than average on women's and
men's apparel, respectively. (Source: MetLife 2005.)
However, not ALL boomers are well-off: in a Focalyst study of more than
30,000 adults over the age of 42 in the US, only 1 in 10 baby boomers
can be classified as Boomer Elites, defined as having an annual
household pretax income of USD 150,000, or USD 100,000 if retired. Keep
this in mind when dreaming up new products for and with this audience.
What follows is a non-ordered listing of hypotheses concerning attributes of MPs vis-a-vis extant thinking and research on entrepreneurship per se. Every journey starts with the first step - consider the following as such.
H1: MP startups will more likely be lifestyle-based companies
H2: MP startups will more likely not seek outside funding
H3: MP startups will more likely be Sole Proprietorships
H4: MP startups will more likely employ family members
H5: MP startups will be less likely to be technology-based
H6: MP startups will be more likely to be service-based
H7: MP startups will more likely be based in Sun Belt locals
H8: MP startups will more likely be based on lifetime dreams rather than a problem solving basis
H9: MP startups will NOT be VC funded
H10: MP startups that require outside funding will more often be funded by asset-based funding
H11: MP startups will not be in the Web 2.0 arena - or Web x.x either
H12: Growth will not be a primary driving force in MP startups
H13: MP-based firms will tend to serve a local rather than regional/national or international markets
H14: MP-based firms will be more likely to be started by women
H15: MP-based firms will not be ready-start-aim, but more studied, more risk adverse, more a priori research-based
H16: MP-based firms will more likely be started by retired white collar workers than blue collar/former union members
H17: MP-based firms will more likely be started by other than former executive level managers
H18: MP-based firms are much more likely to succeed than firms started by younger entrepreneurs
H19: MP-based founders tend to be less educated than startups by younger generations
H20: MP-based firms will find entrepreneurial support groups unprepared to meet their unique requirements
Reference Links:
Boomer Sites & Taglines
eons
-- Lovin' life the flip side of 50
BOOMj -- Boomer
Nation Lifestyle Network
reZOOM.com -- Redefining
life for an ageless generation
Boomer
Towne -- no tagline
Boomer Girl
-- Welcome to the Club
eldr -- Celebrating
aging
Redwood Age
-- Think. Share. Act. Live.
BoomSpeak!
-- Your whole life's in front of you
eGenerations.com
-- Connect. Learn. Explore.
Boomer Time
-- Having fun...while changing the world
Growing Bolder
-- no tagline
Boomer Living
-- ...enhancing the lives of Active Baby Boomers
TeeBeeDee -- Sharing
Experiences to Thrive
Life Two -- ...Midlife
Improvement
My Boomer Place
-- Like MySpace, but better...for young people over 40
My
Primetime -- Personal Trainer for Life
Second Prime Time
-- Where people 50+ connect, create and contribute
Maple
and Leek (UK) -- Live it up at 50+. Adventures
start here...
GrownUps
(NZ) -- 50+ Community
This will be one of those times when, the more we dig, the more digging there is to do. It used to be said that there just wasn't any entrepreneurial activity among the 60 year olds. We already know that is no longer true. There is plenty of anecdotal evidence to support this, so now we need to put together the empirical evidence.
Hank has posited quite a list of hypotheses for us to chew on. Most seem like they will probably be supported. However, #'s 3, 5, 7, 16, and 19 seem to offer the greater chance for diverse opinions.
As to #20, "...support groups unprepared to meet their unique requirements." that one just has to be true. And as such provides a great opportunity for some MP's to jump right in a fix this "pain"!
Stroh-
Is there any prior literature on 'baby boomers'?
Is there, a priori, any evidence to believe that they would in any way be different from the larger population of entrepreneurs?
There seems to be another thread on this on Hank's blog...