We easily recognize the genius of individuals who create with a vision, 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.

1. 10 Creative Leaders Who Made it Big After 35
Restart2complete.com
July 2014

2. 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.

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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 days
He 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