Despite press, start-ups aren't just for 20-somethings

No surprise that founder confidence has a huge effect on a start-up's success. As in most press, the focus is digital natives. Diversity, when measured at all, is measured by industry, gender, nationality and race rather than age.

The failure rate in young start-up companies that is higher in the younger population than in the older.   It's not clear exactly why, although there has been much attributed to the determined energy that carries the inexperienced into new ventures with less back-up and know-how than older colleagues who understand more of what it takes to build a business.  Knowing a little - in the exuberance of youth - can be dangerous.

Time for the over-50s to jump in with both feet. There are certainly perceived barriers to entry, most of which are age-related in a digital economy inhabited in greatest numbers by people who are the same age as their kids.

This perception won't last forever. As technology continues to move from rarefied to ubiquitous, the business experience that these people bring, and the desire to work for themselves (equal to that of their younger counterparts) will transform the economy.