YOU ARE NOT TOO OLD TO START A BUSINESS

Here are three entrepreneurs who got their start later in life and proved that success is a possibility at any age:

Harland David Sanders, Kentucky Fried Chicken


Col. Sanders did not start out as anyone's idea of a successful businessman. He lost his father at his young age, and had disputes with his stepfather and also was fired from different jobs, even losing his job as a lawyer after a courtroom brawl with his own client. However, he had it in mind never to give up no matter the cost and this trait led to his eventual success.


While working at a service station in Corbin, Ky., Sanders gained local popularity for his delicious chicken recipe. After the Corbin station was destroyed due to fire, he had to rebuild the location as a motel and 140-seat restaurant. In 1952, at the age 62, Sanders franchised "Kentucky Fried Chicken" for his first time. Today, Kentucky has over 18,800 outlets in over 118 different countries.



Robert Noyce, Intel


After earning his doctorate degree in physics from MIT, Robert Noyce found work as Research Engineer, later ending up at Beckham Instruments. In 1957 he with seven (7) others left the Beckham Instruments and found the Fairchild semiconductor Corporation. While he made some achievement there, he eventually left with Gordon Moore. Eventually together, they found the INTEL when Noyce was 41.

Noyce was considered the shrewd of the company and treated staff like his relative and family. He rejected the lavish benefits that most CEOs received, and kept the company less structured and more luxuriated. While at Intel, he looked after the invention of the microporcessor, an innovation that revolutionized computer technology and forms the foundation of the machines we still utilize today.



Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn


Surely a company like LinkedIn, a major social network, was founded by a youngster, right? Not at all! Reid Hoffman had to make it through his nose after graduating from Stanford. He decided to find greener pastures, but to do so strategically, mapping out a plan of what he would need to learn before he started his own company.


When he first started on his own, he founded a networking site called socialnet, believing that having a great matching algorithm would assure him success. He tried publicizing his new site through magazines, newspaper, but eventually proved futile. In the end he left and joined PayPal before leaving his position with the company in 2002 to co-found LinkedIn. Hoffman was 35 when he founded the company and 43 when it went public.