RoadRunner50Plus for Aspiring Entrepreneurs Ages 50 and Beyond
7-week program in entrepreneurship launched by
founder of The Entrepreneurs Network
Richard J. Anthony, Sr., founder of The Entrepreneurs Network, a successful networking venue established in 2,000 for startups and early-stage ventures, announced today the launch of RoadRunner 50Plus, a new initiative to help older adults who dream of starting or buying a business.
Anthony said that since starting his own business 20 years ago, the iconic roadrunner cartoon character has been his mascot because it symbolizes speed, agility, tenacity and savvy survival instincts – attributes he believes are essential for successful innovators and entrepreneurs.
“The 7-week program we’ve designed with the help of entrepreneurs, instructional designers and educators is fast-paced and pragmatic,” Anthony said. “The first three-hour session is devoted entirely to helping the individual decide whether he or she has the motivation and temperament entrepreneurship requires, using an assessment tool, a feedback report and peer discussion. Ultimately, the decision to proceed is left to the individual.”
If you’re 62 years old and you’ve just blown a big chunk of your IRA on a brilliant idea that nobody else got excited about, you’re going to wish someone had warned you about the expensive mistakes you made well before you made them.
He said that until now, “The man or woman age 50 and beyond who dreams of starting or buying a business has had few available resources tailored to their stages of life. Too often they operate on the assumption that the experience and skills they developed as payroll employees are automatically transferable to starting and running a startup or buying a small business. They convince themselves that they could be the next Shark Tank sensation.”
According to the Kauffman Foundation, the Boomer generation has produced more new entrepreneurs in later life because of financial necessity, longer life expectancy, relatively good health and a desire to be engaged in purposeful activity. The problem, Anthony asserts, is that too many Boomers haven’t built the networks or cultivated relationships with people who can mentor them through the very early stages of launching a venture. Consequently, they make costly mistakes.
“In the 17 years I’ve been operating The Entrepreneurs Network, I’ve seen too many older adults become disillusioned or stubbornly hang on to an idea because they didn’t have the right people to advise them at the outset. As a result, they wasted time and worse, burned through their pensions and savings believing that if they had persevered, their luck would have changed. If you’re 62 years old and you’ve just blown a big chunk of your IRA on a brilliant idea that nobody else got excited about, you’re going to wish someone had warned you about the expensive mistakes you made well before you made them.
“I’ve been an angel investor and entrepreneur for 25 years, long enough to have accumulated a catalog of things not to do and lessons learned that can be of help to others. I’m also drawing from the course I taught at Villanova University titled ‘Creativity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship.’ In each class, I had a few older adults who had an idea they thought could be turned into a business. By the end of the 7-week course, they were rethinking their impulse to quit their jobs,” he said.
Each 7-week RoadRunner 50Plus group will have 15 participants. Meetings will be held from 8 AM to 11 AM at the Philadelphia office of Blank Rome, LLP, host of the RoadRunner 50Plus and a sponsor of The Entrepreneurs Network.
For more information about RoadRunner 50Plus for aspiring entrepreneurs, contact Anthony at r.anthonysr@theanthonygroupinc.com or 610.225.0277.
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About Rick Anthony and The Entrepreneurs Network
Rick is a management consultant, teacher, author, entrepreneur, angel investor and host of a television show and a podcast. He founded The Entrepreneurs Network (TEN) in 2,000 as a networking venue for aspiring and serial entrepreneurs. The organization has had more than 100 meetings featuring over 400 startups and early-stage ventures. As co-founder of igrandparents.com, a website for the nation’s 73M grandparents (a.k.a Baby Boomers), he has had a special interest in innovative products and services for the mature market. He is an advisor towww.grandmagazine.com and www.babyboomers.com. He is currently invested in and serves as EVP for Xverity, Inc., a technology-enabled services company focused on assuring an uninterrupted continuum of care for patients who transition from a clinical setting to a home environment. He is co-chair of the Greater Philadelphia Chapter of Aging2.0 and a member of the executive committee of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs. He is a graduate of Villanova University and received the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Alumni Medallion.