Beauty before age

15 June 2007

It seems the word is spreading. This week's g2i 'Meet the Companies' event included a group from Flagship Ventures in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who had come all the way to London to see the kind of companies our capital is producing.

General partner Jim Matheson noted that g2i's event - where a handful of companies that have been coached to the point of 'investment readiness' get to pitch to a room of investors and advisors - was similar to some that take place on the US East Coast. But one difference he noted was that London entrepreneurs generally appeared younger than those he sees. Some East Coast investors, it seems, look for more mature management teams when it comes to entrepreneurship.

Now that seemed strange. Among the presenters at this week's g2i event was a husband and wife team doing a second internet venture; a TV internet start-up where the still young-looking CEO was so enthusiastic about his company he only managed to get through half his slides; a team of building industry veterans; and a team of text messaging pioneers of indeterminate age looking to target kids.

The point is that applying an age test to entrepreneurs might be one of many metrics investors apply - but it's got to be done in perspective. There's nothing to stop a young entrepreneur spotting a great opportunity and executing on it - and by the same token, an older veteran coming straight out of a major corporate might be so green in the ways of a start-up as to miss the point entirely.

Matheson himself belittles the idea that age should be a barrier to entrepreneurship. But his observations about the East Coast scene suggest that others disagree. London, as much as anywhere, with its rich mix of diverse communities, might be the best place to prove them wrong.

By David Longworth