Skip-generation entrepreneurial collaborations have begun to gain traction as a means for fostering financially successful entrepreneurial activity among individuals in age cohorts (i.e., youth and seniors) that have been historically underrepresented in entrepreneurship. However, poorly designed skip-generation entrepreneurial collaborations have the potential to not only hinder venture outcomes, but also to embitter the participants and reinforce ageism and related stereotypes. In this paper, we draw on the intergroup contact hypothesis to conceptualize “checkpoints” for designing skip-generation collaborations that foster empathy and mutual perceptions of benefit among participants, intergenerational solidarity, and stronger venture performance as well as individual and community/societal outcomes.
