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Living healthily to 120: Implications for entrepreneurship

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  • van Gelderen, Marco

Abstract

Research on how to slow, halt, and reverse aging processes is making progress. Pharmaceutical, big-tech, and venture capital companies and their owners are making considerable investments in potential (epi)genetic, molecular, cellular, and organ-based interventions and therapies. This essay considers implications for entrepreneurship in the case that such interventions would eventually result in a doubling of the human healthspan. A vastly extended middle age would imply potential changes in opportunities, the future time perspective of entrepreneurs, the pace of time as experienced by entrepreneurs, and the relationship between age and entrepreneurial success. The essay also outlines a range of wider considerations. The final section ties the essay together by discussing how entrepreneurship scholarship can help move the longevity domain forward.

Suggested Citation

  • van Gelderen, Marco, 2025. "Living healthily to 120: Implications for entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 40(4).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbvent:v:40:y:2025:i:4:s0883902625000400
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusvent.2025.106512
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