Advantages of being a young entrepreneur

Even before graduating from the University of Bath in 2024, Arnau Aierbe landed a coveted role as an AI engineer at JP Morgan, but still felt limited and uninspired.

“I quickly realized that the person to my right and the person to my left were going to be me in 20 years, and I didn’t want to be that person,” recalls Ayerbe, who is based in London.

Pablo Jiménez de Parga Ramos, a close friend of mine since high school in his home country of Madrid, who went to work for a company after graduating from University College London, felt the same way.

In London in 2023, they teamed up with Ayerbe’s college friend Bergen Merey to launch Throxy, which creates AI agents for sales teams.

The trio, now all 24, have raised nearly £5m in two rounds of investor funding and have an annual turnover of almost £1.2m.

They are part of a growing number of 20-somethings who are taking the plunge to start their own businesses. In the UK, 62% of Gen Z (those born between 1997 and 2012) want to start a business, according to data from Enterprise Nation.

That’s reflected in the trends seen in data from the British Business Bank’s Start Up Loans programme. It shows that the number of loans given to Gen Z founders has doubled over the past five years.

It was a rewarding but tough experience for Throxy’s young entrepreneurs.

Ramos declares that Sloxy does not have a 9-to-5 culture, but rather a “9-9-6” mentality, working from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week.

Ayerbe added, “If I had known how much effort and work it takes to grow a company this far, I probably wouldn’t have started it.”

Throxy’s founders say one of their big advantages over other generations is that they are AI-savvy.

For Garcia, building an AI-driven business felt like a natural fit.

“I used an early model of Chat GPT in a research project before it was released to the public for research, and I can honestly say it felt like magic.

“I felt like something transformative was going to happen here that would fundamentally change the way we work for the better,” he says.

Perhaps one day Aierbe and his co-founders will be at the helm of a company worth more than $1bn (£740m), known as a unicorn.

The most successful AI startups are increasingly being founded by young entrepreneurs, according to research from investment network Antler.

They analyzed 3,512 founders of companies that were later valued at more than $1 billion.

The average age of entrepreneurs who founded AI unicorns has fallen from 40 years old in 2020 to 29 years old in 2024.

But when you’re in your 20s and running a business, it seems hard to avoid being underestimated by your clients and partners, who are usually older.

This is Rosie Skuse’s experience. As a new business owner in her early 20s, she was often mistaken for her boss’s assistant. Then he had to learn the surprising news that he was actually the boss.

“Some people wouldn’t even shake my hand. It was really hard and I used to struggle with that too. It’s frustrating when people don’t think it’s your company. Then I’ll start talking and people will see that I know what I’m talking about,” recalls the London-based Scouse.

“Then they say, ‘Wow, you’re so proud, but you’re so young.’ That shock factor was almost like a secret weapon, because I caught people off guard and they ended up really listening.”

Skuse, 29, is the founder and CEO of Malt Music Group, a music and entertainment agency whose clients include luxury brands such as The Dorchester, The Savoy, Soho House and Raffles.

From a roster of over 300 musicians, Molto Music Group creates bespoke house bands for these venues, often also designing stages and sets. We also collaborate with luxury brands such as Hermès and Patek Philippe on private events.

The company launched in 2019 and business is currently booming despite early customers canceling their contracts due to the subsequent coronavirus pandemic. Molto Music Group made its first $1 million in 2023, and in 2025 it made more than £1.6 million. The company employs seven full-time staff.

“I don’t have any business training. It’s all been tried and tested and learning as I go,” Skuse says.

“I had to work a lot on my tone and the way I speak and my handshakes, but growing a young company at a young age can be a breath of fresh air compared to your competitors. It’s more memorable.”

But previous founders have some advice for young founders.

Lee Broders, 53, started his first business in IT at age 26 after 10 years of military service. Since then, he has been a serial entrepreneur and currently runs seven ventures ranging from business coaching to photography.

According to Broders, it’s not all about making your first million, it’s about scaling your business so it can survive into the future.

“Speed ​​can hide weak foundations,” said Shropshire-based Broders. “Growing something fast doesn’t necessarily equate to sustainability or robustness.”

“It’s great if you’re making over £1m, but if you’re costing £990,000 and you’re actually making £10,000 a year, that’s very different.”

Sarah Skelton is the co-founder and managing director of Flourish, a recruitment agency for the sales industry.

She launched her first business in 2024 at the age of 46, but she worries that founders in their 20s will miss out on valuable leadership and management skills that are best learned in a traditional work environment.

“It’s great that you can set up a business so quickly these days, but I think you need lived experience to really become strong in the leadership part, which is a really important part here,” says Ms Skelton, who is based in London.

She is the co-founder and managing director of Flourish, a recruitment agency for the sales industry.

“Also, when you’re growing a business, it’s really important to lean on the people in your network. But of course, if you’re super young and you’re trying to get straight into this job, where’s your network?

Furthermore, she added: “My network is 25 years of introducing candidates, selling to different companies, working in different countries. It’s really tough when you’re that young. Who do you turn to and where do you find people like that?”