Never Too Old to Get Rich

Part IIBuilding a Winning Senior–Junior Partnership

Many mid-life entrepreneurs are creating businesses alongside a younger member of their family, or a cofounder decades younger. It's a winning recipe. These intergenerational pairings are energizing and, to me, represent a great blueprint for future success.

While there are no statistics to document these new generational pairings, the trend appears to be gathering momentum. And recent studies, while not specifically about small businesses, have found intergenerational work teams to be more productive.

What I love about this start-up synergy is the older partner can bring decades of experience, ballast, a network of potential clients, and possibly, capital. And the younger partner can deliver the oomph factor – the get-up-and-go, the tech savvy, the ambition of someone in the early stages of his or her career, and an eagerness to try new ways of doing things.

Together, this kind of partnership creates a balanced business with legs that can be slowly built over time, with a long-term horizon.

In the following three chapters, you will meet entrepreneurial intergenerational teams who are pairing up for success.