I'd like to take you back about seven years in my life. Friday afternoon, a few days before Christmas 2009, I was the director of operations at a consumer products company in San Francisco, and I was called into a meeting that was already in progress. That meeting turned out to be my exit interview. I was fired, along with several others. I was 64 years old at the time. It wasn't completely unexpected. I signed a stack of papers, gathered my personal effects, and left to join my wife who was waiting for me at a nearby restaurant, completely unaware. Fast-forward several hours, we both got really silly drunk.
Želeo bih da vas vratim unazad sedam godina mog života. Petak poslepodne nekoliko dana pre Božića 2009. godine. Bio sam direktor operacija kompanije potrošačkih proizvoda u San Francisku, i pozivaju me na sastanak koji je u toku. Ispostavilo se da je taj sastanak bio moj oproštajni intervju. Bio sam otpušten zajedno sa još nekoliko ljudi. Tada sam imao 64 godine. Nije bilo sasvim neočekivano. Potpisao sam gomilu papira, skupio moje lične stvari, i otišao da se pridružim svojoj ženi koja me je čekala u obližnjem restoranu, potpuno nesvesna. Nekoliko sati kasnije, oboje smo se baš dobro napili.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
So, 40 plus years of continuous employment for a variety of companies, large and small, was over. I had a good a network, a good reputation -- I thought I'd be just fine. I was an engineer in manufacturing and packaging, I had a good background. Retirement was, like for so many people, simply not an option for me, so I turned to consulting for the next couple of years without any passion whatsoever.
Pa, više od 40 godina neprekinute zaposlenosti u raznim kompanijama, velikim i malim, je bilo gotovo. Imao sam dobru mrežu, dobru reputaciju - Mislio sam da ću biti dobro. Bio sam inženjer u proizvodnji i pakovanju. Imao sam dosta iskustva. Penzija, kao i za mnoge ljude, jednostavno nije bila opcija za mene. Pa sam se okrenuo konsaltingu narednih nekoliko godina, bez ikakve strasti.
And then an idea began to take root, born from my concern for our environment. I wanted to build my own business, designing and manufacturing biodegradable packaging from waste -- paper, agricultural, even textile waste -- replacing the toxic, disposable plastic packaging to which we've all become addicted. This is called clean technology, and it felt really meaningful to me. A venture that could help to reduce the billions of pounds of single-use plastic packaging dumped each year, and polluting our land, our rivers and our oceans, and left for future generations to resolve -- our grandchildren, my grandchildren.
I tad je jedna ideja počela da se pomalja, rođena iz moje brige za okolinu. Želeo sam da razvijem svoj posao, dizajn i proizvodnju biorazgradivog pakovanja od otpada - papirnog, poljoprivrednog, čak i tekstilnog otpada - koje bi zamenilo toksično, jednokratno plastično pakovanje od kojeg smo svi postali zavisni. Ovo se zove čista tehnologija, i za mene je imala veliki značaj. Poduhvat koji može da pomogne u smanjenju količine milijardi kilograma jednokratnog plastičnog pakovanja koje se odbaci svake godine i zagađuje našu zemlju, reke i okeane, i ostaje za buduće generacije da reše - naše praunuke, moje praunuke.
And so now at the age of 66, with 40 years of experience, I became an entrepreneur for the very first time.
I tako sada, kad imam 66 godina, sa 40 godina iskustva, postajem preduzetnik po prvi put.
(Cheers)
(Ovacije)
(Applause)
(Aplauz)
Thank you. But there's more.
Hvala vam. Ali ima još toga.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
Lots of issues to deal with: manufacturing, outsourcing, job creation, patents, partnerships, funding -- these are all typical issues for a start-up, but hardly typical for me. And a word about funding. I live and work in San Francisco, and if you're looking for funding, you are typically going to compete with some very young people from the high-tech industry, and it can be very discouraging and intimidating. I have shoes older than most of these people.
Mnogo je problema sa kojima se treba izboriti: proizvodnja, spoljna saradnja, kreiranje poslova, patenti, partnerstva, finansiranje - sve su to tipični problemi svakog startapa, ali netipični za mene. I koja reč o finansiranju. Živim i radim u San Francisku, i ako tražite izvor finansiranja, uobičajeno su vam konkurencija veoma mladi ljudi iz visokotehnološke industrije, i to može da bude obeshrabrujuće i zastrašujuće. Imam cipele starije od većine tih ljudi.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
I do.
Zaista imam.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
But five years later, I'm thrilled and proud to share with you that our revenues have doubled every year, we have no debt, we have several marquee clients, our patent was issued, I have a wonderful partner who's been with me right from the beginning, and we've won more than 20 awards for the work that we've done. But best of all, we've made a small dent -- a very small dent -- in the worldwide plastic pollution crisis.
Ali pet godina kasnije, uzbuđen sam i ponosan da podelim sa vama da su nam se prihodi duplirali svake godine, nemamo dug, imamo nekoliko istaknutih klijenata, naš patent je priznat, imam odličnog partnera koji je bio sa mnom od početka, i dobili smo više od 20 nagrada za posao koji smo odradili. Ali, što je najbolje od svega, napravili smo mali, veoma mali pomak, u krizi svetskog zagađenja plastikom.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)
And I am doing the most rewarding and meaningful work of my life right now. I can tell you there's lots of resources available to entrepreneurs of all ages, but what I really yearned for five years ago was to find other first-time entrepreneurs who were my age. I wanted to connect with them. I had no role models, absolutely none. That 20-something app developer from Silicon Valley was not my role model.
I sada obavljam posao koji mi pruža najviše zadovoljstva i smisla u životu. Mogu vam reći da ima puno resursa dostupnih preduzetnicima svih godina, ali ono za čime sam najviše žudeo pre pet godina je da nađem druge preduzetnike-početnike koji su moji vršnjaci. Želeo sam da se povežem sa njima. Nisam imao na koga da se ugledam, absolutno nikog. Onaj dvadesetogodišnji dizajner aplikacija iz Silicijumske doline nije bio moj uzor.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
I'm sure he was very clever --
Siguran sam da je pametan -
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
I want to do something about that, and I want all of us to do something about that. I want us to start talking more about people who don't become entrepreneurs until they are seniors. Talking about these bold men and women who are checking in when their peers, in essence, are checking out. And then connecting all these people across industries, across regions, across countries -- building a community.
Želim da učinim nešto i da svi mi uradimo nešto povodom toga. Želim da krenemo da pričamo više o ljudima koji ne postanu preduzetnici do njihovog starijeg uzrasta. Da pričamo o tim hrabrim muškarcima i ženama koji se prijavljuju kada se njihovi vršnjaci, u suštini, odjavljuju. I da tada povežemo sve te ljude u okviru više industrija, regiona raznih država - izgrađujući zajednicu.
You know, the Small Business Administration tells us that 64 percent of new jobs created in the private sector in the USA are thanks to small businesses like mine. And who's to say that we'll stay forever small? We have an interesting culture that really expects when you reach a certain age, you're going to be golfing, or playing checkers, or babysitting the grandkids all of the time. And I adore my grandchildren --
Znate, Administracija za mala preduzeća nam kaže da je 64 posto novih poslova stvoreno u privatnom sektoru Amerike zahvaljujući malim firmama kao što je moja. I ko može da kaže da ćemo ostati zauvek mali? Imamo interesantnu kulturu koja zaista očekuje da, kada dostigneš određene godine, ideš na golf, ili da igraš dame, da čuvaš unuke sve vreme. Ja obožavam svoje unuke -
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
and I'm also passionate about doing something meaningful in the global marketplace.
a takođe sam vrlo zagrejan da uradim nešto značajno na globalnom tržištu.
And I'm going to have lots of company. The Census Bureau says that by 2050, there will be 84 million seniors in this country. That's an amazing number. That's almost twice as many as we have today. Can you imagine how many first-time entrepreneurs there will be among 84 million people? And they'll all have four decades of experience.
I imaću dosta društva. Biro statistike kaže da će do 2050. godine, biti 84 miliona starih u ovoj državi. To je zapanjujuć broj. To je skoro duplo više nego što nas ima danas. Možete li zamisliti koliko će biti preduzetnika početnika među 84 milion ljudi? I svi će imati četiri decenije iskustva.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
So when I say, "Let's start talking more about these wonderful entrepreneurs," I mean, let's talk about their ventures, just as we do the ventures of their much younger counterparts. The older entrepreneurs in this country have a 70 percent success rate starting new ventures. 70 percent success rate. We're like the Golden State Warriors of entrepreneurs --
Dakle, kad kažem: „Počnimo da više pričamo o ovim divnim preduzetnicima“, mislim, hajde da pričamo o njihovim poduhvatima, kao što pričamo o njihovim mnogo mlađim kolegama. Stariji preduzetnici u ovoj zemlji imaju procenat uspeha od 70 procenata u pokretanju novih poduhvata. 70 procenata uspešnosti. Mi smo kao Golden Stejt voriorsi u svetu preduzetnika -
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
(Applause)
(Aplauz)
And that number plummets to 28 percent for younger entrepreneurs. This is according to a UK-based group called CMI.
I taj broj opada na 28 procenta kod mlađih preduzetnika. To je po grupi po imenu CMI baziranoj u UK.
Aren't the accomplishments of a 70-year-old entrepreneur every bit as meaningful, every bit as newsworthy, as the accomplishments of a 30-year-old entrepreneur? Of course they are. That's why I'd like to make the phrase "70 over 70" just as --
Zar nisu uspesi preduzetnika od 70 godina podjednako bitni, podjednako vredni objave, kao i uspesi preduzetnika od 30 godina? Naravno da jesu. Zato hoću da postignem da fraza „70 iznad 70“ -
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
just as commonplace as the phrase "30 under 30."
bude ustaljena kao fraza „30 ispod 30“.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)
Thank you.
Hvala vam.
(Cheers)
(Ovacije)
(Applause)
(Aplauz)