Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates were once teenage whizkid entrepreneurs – but for most, success in business begins at 40, as these 14 people show

Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates made business lore for creating their multimillion-dollar companies in their teens – but data suggests they are anomalies to the norm.

In fact, the average age of business founders hovers around 40, according to research conducted by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor Pierre Azoulay, who analysed 2.7 million people who founded companies between 2007 and 2014. Azoulay concluded that a founder at age 50 is around twice as likely to experience a “successful exit,” meaning their companies get acquired or go public, compared to a founder at age 30.

Renowned fashion designer Vera Wang didn't design her first dress until she was 40. Henry Ford was 45 when he created the revolutionary Model T car in 1908.

Here are other successful people who found success later in life.

Stan Lee created his first hit comic, “The Fantastic Four,” just shy of his 39th birthday in 1961. In the next few years, he created the legendary Marvel Universe, whose characters such as Spider-Man and the X-Men became American cultural icons.

Donald Fisher was 40 and had no experience in retail when he and his wife, Doris, opened the first Gap store in San Francisco in 1969. The Gap's clothes quickly became fashionable, and today the company is one of the world's largest clothing chains.

Vera Wang was a figure skater and journalist before entering the fashion industry at age 40. Today she's one of the world's premier women's designers.