Why Your Tech Company Needs an Old Guy.

I’ve decided to try something new.

Instead of trying to be cute, smarmy, brilliant, funny and articulate in a short, easy-to-read article, I’m going to do it in a series of short, easy-to-read articles on something near and dear to my heart that will become more and more of an issue with every day that passes. I’m going to write about my experiences as the elder statesman in a tech company and some of the reasons I think it’s important to keep someone with a few years behind them on the team.

Technology is a deceiving word.

It should come with a timer…

Anything that is considered cutting edge technology today will be old and worn in 5 years and obsolete in 20. You can’t say that about art or music or architecture… but tech has a short fuse and it burns bright.

The movers and shakers of today’s tech world view what was bleeding edge technology from 35 years ago, as antiquated and ancient history.

While I still remember getting chills of excitement the first time I could read an email on my (decidedly NOT smart) phone, I can’t help but think that as technology changes so many things in our world, that the voices of wisdom (and often, reason) are unceremoniously being left on the scrap heap, to the peril of all concerned.

I’m Special Projects Director for an Artificial Intelligence company called Invacio, and I sit on The United Nations Taskforce on the Digital Economy. Before that I was Managing Director of a 3D printing technology company.

I KNOW how fast technology is moving.

I see first-hand almost daily things that can be done in an instant, which used to take a team of 40 people weeks or months to do. And even if I don’t quite understand how that magic happens, I’m lucky that I’m close enough to it, to see it at all.

I get a front row seat because early on, I proved my value by advising the (much younger and smarter) company founder on a few real world issues he was facing.

Having been involved with a few other start-ups, things I had seen along the way proved analogous to some of the challenges we faced early on, and I was able to provide accurate counsel.

So it got me to thinking… How many of the challenges of launching and running a tech start-up could be mitigated by having an old guy on the team, ready to fill in the blanks?

How many problems avoided? Internal conflicts quickly resolved?

Perhaps “Jean”, Invacio’s A.I. could answer exactly, but I will just say “Enough to make it worth it”.

So I’ve put together a list of some of the things that I think make someone who was born before 1972 valuable to a tech start-up. This is the first of three parts on the subject…

WHY YOUR TECH COMPANY NEEDS AN OLD GUY (OR GAL…BUT MOSTLY GUY)

1) Connections that take a lifetime to build-

Sure you’ve got a few friends that you grew up with, and maybe your roommates from college, but if you’re under 35, odds are that you didn’t hang out the way the generation before you did.

We walked (or rode bikes without helmets) to elementary school together, helped fix each other’s cars in high school, listened to albums together (without headphones) and piled 12 people into a car without seatbelts to get home from parties… (“Hand check”, anyone?) The bonds that were forged IRL in the 60’s, 70’s and ’80s were tangible. We were held accountable by society for our actions, and we were treated more like adults. As such, we forged deeper and more meaningful relationships.

You couldn’t unfriend somebody with a click… you had to physically kick their ass on the playground. It made you more careful about who you befriended and how you treated them. It made re-friending someone a bit more time consuming too…

The ability to leverage THOSE types of connections 40 or 50 years later should not be overlooked.

2) Wisdom that can’t be had in 30 or 40 years-

There is a certain amount of wisdom that comes with age… not everyone gets to experience it in the same way, but the guys who grew up in business world of the 80’s and 90’s and 00s have a unique view of the world… They remember when Rolodexes were cardboard and mobile phones were science fiction. And those extra years of adapting and learning as business went through the major disruption at the turn of the century…those first-hand accounts and remembering what it felt like to be (down-sized, obsoleted, replaced by automation or simply overwhelmed by technology) could prove absolutely invaluable in the coming years as A.I. Blockchain, VR and IoT gear up to have similar impact on Millennials.

3) Difference in BUSINESS years –

OK… You’re 35, smart, motivated, and moving your way up the ranks…

I’m 50 (ish).

I’m trying to fit in, struggling a bit with the latest and greatest tech, and you think I’m a rube, and that you have almost as much experience as I do, because you’re better at tech, and have more energy.

The fact is that you overpaid for college and did 18 months at Starbucks while me and my friends were making 6 figures and getting sold a bill of goods by the Fed and Fannie and Freddie. (at least you learned ten ways to spell “Ashley”). We were already making moves before you got into the game, so that 15 years difference in age is actually more than TRIPLE the amount of business experience you are drawing from, because we were able to hit the ground running at 21/22 years old in the 80’s.

Sure, half of that experience doesn’t translate to 2018… but half of it does.

4) Vision…Gut feelings from seeing similar situations before.

Call it a living, working version of game theory. But when you’ve seen a situation play out over several months or even years, you see familiar patterns when it starts to happen again.

Sometimes your gut tells you something just isn’t right and you start digging someplace that you wouldn’t have, otherwise.

Old guys have lived long enough to trust their gut feelings. This could probably fall under “Wisdom” but it’s a special kind of business wisdom that comes with working at several start-ups, and seeing the complete business arc from end to end. In fact, let’s call it applicable wisdom.

Connections. Wisdom. Vision. Business Experience.

These are just a few of the important benefits that your tech company can gain from having an old guy. More next week.