There's this perception that successful entrepreneurs are invariably youthful, full of ideas and energy, and unburdened by responsibilities that come with middle age. Pair that with the idea that as we get older we decline cognitively, and it makes sense that we think of entrepreneurship as a young person's deal, right?

Ben Jones at the Kellogg School of Management doesn't agree.

He and a team of researchers, including from the Census Bureau, did a bunch of research on entrepreneurs. They found that the prevailing wisdom about the people who start up companies isn't quite right.

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