I feel like there is powerful social conditioning in our society which prevents people who didn't succeed early from succeeding later. It's not about their work. At the end of the day, nobody can succeed in society without the stamp of approval from a bunch of elites. Like a big publisher, or a big social media influencer or a big media platform editor. Nowadays, it seems more than ever, that the elites all have to agree.

It creates situations where some young person may not be "allowed to succeed" due to their unconventional approach and this continues until they turn a certain age by which point those in power think "This person cannot be good because they're 45 and I never heard of them." The suppression becomes self-fulfilling because they were unconventional even though their approach later proved optimal and everyone may be doing it now. Not everyone on the frontline gets recognition.

Also, because a lot of successful people achieved success by a certain age, they tend to look for and help people who are like them. Someone who is 45 and not successful has a very different worldview than someone who became successful in their first venture at 18 years old.