I’m a little late posting highlights from this week’s What’s Next Boomer Business Summit. My excuse: no wi-fi at the conference (note to conference organizers: let’s get with the progam next year). FH Boom has a good write-up of some of the session highlights; meanthile, the panel I moderated on 50+ entrepreneurship had great energy and produced a couple of good nuggets. . .

Market trends

Jeff Williams, head coach at Bizstarters set it up with some background on 50+ entrepreneurial trends. “If not for boomer startups we would have had a decline in startups last year. There were 660,000 startups in the U.S.—more than even the peak of the dot-com boom. A lot of it is fueled by 50-plusers.”

Jeff’s company sees Boomer start-ups falling into three main areas:

1. Service-based businesses. “This is far and away the most popular area. One of the big mega-trends is large corporations that today will outsource virtually any function, right up to the corporate treasurer. Nothing is sacrosanct. You can provide those outsourced services.”

2. Web-enabled retailing. “Some start on Ebay and evolve to something else. But it’s become more competitive and difficult to differentiate yourself there. So we’re seeing more independent startups.”

3. Consultancies. This area is declining somewhat, Jeff says. “When a client comes to me and says ‘I want to be a consultant,’ I ask, ‘Why? What is your specific capability that makes you want to go this route? We discourage a lot of people from some from going into consulting through our evaluation process.”

Raising money

Mary Furlong noted that VCs are backing healthcare start-ups. “They are looking for market opportunity and the quality of the team. So, build a diverse team. Have a boomer entrepreneur but diversify so you have the latest thinking out of the University of Chicago school of business.”

Amy Hilliard, founder of ComfortCakes Company, points boomer entrepreneurs toward angel investors as an alternate source of capital. “They don’t require the same payout as a venture capitalist. They look at track record and your customers.” Jeff Williams agreed. “Angels provide five times the capital that VCs do. Get involved with a matching service that puts entrepreneurs together with angel investors. The truth is, many people who tell you they need $5 million n venture capital don’t have a clue—they’re just throwing out a figure. A lot of really good businesses can be launched for a couple hundred thousand and grown into multimillion businesses. And particularly here in the Midwest it’s very difficult to get VC money.”

More than 5 million Americans over age 50 are self-employed, AARP reports, and they account for 40 percent of the self-employed work force. But entrepreneurship poses unique challenges that can be very different from corporate life. I’m offering up tips from career coaches and experts in a Chicago Sun-Times guest op-ed article today. The piece is linked to a panel I’ll be moderating at the What’s Next Boomer Business Summit next week.

Mary Furlong has been watching the Boomer generation closely since the mid-1980s, when she founded Third Age Media, a pioneering website focused on lifestage transitions. Today, Mary heads Mary Furlong & Associates, and consults with companies focused on the 50+ market. Furlong & Associates produces the annual Silicon Valley Boomer Ventures Summit at Santa Clara University’s Leavey School of Business, where she’s a faculty member.

I’m working with Mary on the What’s Next Boomer Business Summit, which comes to Chicago March 5 –6. She’s just published a new book, Turning Silver into Gold: How to Profit in the New Boomer Marketplace that offers outstanding insight into the opportunities in the 50+ market.

Mary, you note in the book that the 50+market will be the fastest growing population in the U.S. between now and 2015. Why haven’t more marketers and media companies seized this trend and capitalized directly on it?

There is growing focus on the 50+ market among companies—just look at all the business conferences that have sprung up in just the past couple years. Corporations are establishing divisions that focus solely on Boomers. And, we’re seeing more advertisers reposition for this market; Fidelity, Schwab and Ameriprise come to mind.

As far as media goes, I’m reminded of the Internet around 1995—a lot of things are in the air. You’ve got Retirement Living TV in Maryland, and there are six or seven business plans circulating that are aimed at the 50+ market. The real flow is around social media and lifestage changes. And, advertisers are realizing they won’t be able to reach Boomers through traditional channels like television. Boomers are adopting all the new technologies that fragment audience—they’re on websites checking their stock portfolio or sports scores. They’re uploading photos of their grandchildren. They are all over digital media. It’s a real Tapas table of choices.

Where are the best opportunities for startups targeting Boomers?

Remember “Plastics, Benjamin” from The Graduate? Now, it’s blood sugar and reverse mortgages. When you look at the big categories for new businesses they all relate to security and longevity for older people—money management, wealth transfer, lowering their bills and home income plans.

Technology is another great opportunity. With all this technology infused into our homes, who will provide the tech support to older people? Is there a geek squad out there?

Eldercare is a giant category. Everything from in-home services to adult day care, new assisted living solutions and cognitive fitness classes and fashion. We haven’t even imagined the services boomers will need when they start to need eldercare. And travel is just enormous. Boomers and their grandchildren are the fastest growing part of the travel business. I know someone who started a business running eco-tours in Africa. That is her new business.

You have a fascinating (to me, anyway) chapter in the book on sex and romance. What are the entrepreneurial opportunities here?

A sex toys company just got funded out here in Silicon Valley. I try to position sex as a deeper experience at midlife than when you are 17. Just as yoga has become popular, there is a whole series of products that can be focused around relationships—workshops seminars, concerts, restaurants, travel. This is about romance and the promise of romance.

Tantra.com is a great example in the book. It was started ten years ago as an e-learning business. The founder is a woman named Suzie who understood sexuality at midlife, and that people are seeking deeper experiences with a soul mate. It’s like what Jack Nicholson says to Diane Keaton in Something’s Gotta Give—“I’ve found my soul mate. Could you create a retreat center around that theme? Canyon Ranch has incorporated sex education into their programs, and other spas are doing it as well.

What’s the biggest mistake entrepreneurs make with start-ups?

Not getting started! I know people with lots of great ideas for companies, but they never actually start them. Jump right in, and refine your model as you go. Guy Kawasaki talks about this in The Art of the Start. Customers will tell you what they want.