The sweet spot to step out on your own

It's that time of the year - when you look at your bonus letter with searing pain. And you go back to the question that you have been asking yourself - is it time to give that business idea a shot and step out on your own? Look around and you see so many young kids bustling in their start ups, and you wonder if you have left it too late. You wonder if there is ever a right time to be an entrepreneur?

The truth is, there is no right or wrong time to become an entrepreneur. Some folks get on it right after college (or some don't even bother with college). Some start very late once they are through with major liabilities. And some who come from a business background feel that this is the most natural path they can take. However, if you don't have a strong financial backing and rely on the confidence of your idea and your own drive to see it through, then I do believe that there is a sweet spot, a favorable period of time to step out on our own - which is between the age of 35-40 years.

This little theory revolves around two practical parameters-

The first is around getting some valuable work experience. To build a business requires much more than your game changing idea, and you simply can't afford to make rookie mistakes while charting your strategy. Having some time under your belt gives you an opportunity to learn from mistakes that don't personally cost you and more importantly, matures you around how to deal with people. Having at least 10-12 years of work experience would be invaluable which you should be able to get by the age of 35.

Secondly, one of the most common barriers against taking the leap is the comfort of your family. It's much easier when your children are little but once they get to an age of 8+, they start settling down and make regular friends. Disruption is the last word they want to hear from hereon. This is usually at the age of 40 and as the years progress, the cost of maintaining the family's lifestyle keeps going upwards and your dream then remains just that - a dream.

And so when you combine the above two factors, the age between 35-40, give and take a few years, is your sweet spot.

Although unrelated and purely for inspiration, I looked up to see if there were any self made successes who started off at this age span and some interesting names cropped up:

Founded at 40+ years: Thomas Siebel, Siebel Systems; Reed Hastings, Netflix

Founded at 39 years: Liu Chuanzhi, Lenovo; Gordon Moore, Intel; Amancio Ortega, Zara

Founded at 38 years: Min Kao, Garmin; Masaru Ibuka, Sony

Founded at 37 years: Doris Fisher, Gap; Milton Hershey, Hershey's

Founded at 36 years: Rowland Macy, Macy's; Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn

Founded at 35 years: J C. Jacobsen, Carlsberg, Marc Benioff, Salesforce; Jack Ma, Ali Baba

I would be most interested to hear your thoughts on the same. Here is hoping that you find your sweet spot to step out on your own very soon.

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