LATE BLOOMERS

10 Creative Leaders Who Made it Big After 35Restart2complete.comJuly 2014

What is a Late Bloomer?

We easily recognize the genius of individuals who create with a vision – think Jobs, Zuckerberg, Mozart or Picasso. We have a much harder time distinguishing the genius of individuals who create through an experimental process.

The trial and error approach can span years or even decades and results in many failures along the way. This renders the “late bloomer” indistinguishable from the masses.

Following are ten late bloomer examples – all have disrupted an industry and generated significant wealth.

Chase founded Zipcar when she was 42. GoLoco when she was 47. Buzzcar when she was 52. Veniam when she was 54 and raised three children along the way.She started Zipcar with a mere $67 and that led to a $500M acquisition by Avis in 2014.If she had held onto meaningful equity in Zipcar when Avis acquired it 2014 or had remained as CEO through IPO, she would likely be much higher on this list. Still, her perseverance is amazing.

#10 Robin Chase

Came of age at 42

You’ve undoubtedly heard of Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Avenger and many other Marvel superheroes.Stan Lee created them all after the age of 38. Today his characters are the subjects of some of the biggest grossing movies of all time. Now 91, “Stan the Man” still makes cameos in all Marvel movies, is active in business and on the speaking circuit. He has an estimated net worth of $50M.

#9 Stan Lee

Came of age at 38

Punk fashionista turned eco-warrior Vivienne Westwood opened her first clothing store at 36 and came even later to design – having her first runway show at age 41. Today she is worth an estimated $185M.For Westwood, a complete aesthetic vision and the ability to execute new work within it took decades to cultivate — not very punk, we guess, but very successful. *

#8 Vivienne Westwood

Came of age at 41

Sindhu is Indian American entrepreneur who is the co-founded Juniper Networks in 1993 at the age of 43. He served as CEO of the company until 1996 and is currently the CTO and Vice-Chair of the Board.Sindhu is a technical visionary in the field of high performance and networked computing.In 2013, he had an estimated net worth of $500M, down from a previous high in excess of $1B.

#7 Pradeep Sindhu

Came of age at 43

A household name, Martha Stewart, is a publishing and media tycoon worth an estimated $638M.Stewart parlayed a basement-based catering company into a book deal, which led to more book deals, which led to TV and to branded products.Stewart published that first book in 1982 at the age of 41 and really came into her own in 1990 (age 49) when she launched Martha Stewart Living.

#6 Martha Stewart

Came of age at 49

Noyce graduated from MIT in 1953 and went to work for the Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Mountain View in 1956. A year later, he joined seven colleagues in launching Fairchild Semiconductor (probably the most important company in the US during the 1960s).It was 1968, at the age of 41, Noyce founded Intel along with 39-year-old Gordon Moore. In 2006, his estate was valued at an estimated $3.7B.

#5 Robert Noyce

Came of age at 41

Donald and Doris Fisher founded the Gap in 1969 in San Francisco. By 1974, the company had expanded to 25 locations and had begun to sell their own private label clothing.While Gap Inc. had some tough times in the early 2000s, its fortunes are looking up again with international expansion.In the process, the ultimate power couple amassed a net worth in excess of $3.3B. Their three sons continue to be involved with the company today.

#4 Donald & Doris Fisher

Came of age at 41 and 37

Before he turned 31, Reed Hastings had worked as a math teacher and software engineer. He founded Pure Software in 1991 and used the cash from his exit six years later to launch Netflix DVD Rental at the age of 37.Ten years later (2007) at the age of 47 he figured out online streaming was the way to go. He has an estimated net worth of $940M, but you have to think there is still massive upside.

#3 Reed Hastings

Came of age at 47

Benioff started salesforce.com in March 1999 in a rented San Francisco apartment and defined its mission as “The End of Software”. He is generally credited with disputing enterprise software by popularizing the SaaS model startups embrace today.Prior to starting salesforce.com, Benioff was a rising star at Oracle (where he became a VP at age 26) and worked at Apple. His estimated network is $31.B and growing.

#2 Marc Benioff

Came of age at 35

Reid Hoffman has had a hand in creating two of the most successful social media companies. He is chairman and cofounder of LinkedIn, and backed Facebook in the company's startup daysHe spend 15 years trying to figure out what to do after graduating Stanford. In 2002, at age 35, he co-founded LinkedIn and it went public eight years later. He has an estimated net worth of $4.4B.

#1 Reid Hoffman

Came of age at 35