Sir John Hegarty is launching an incubator business called The Garage with the investment specialist Tom Teichman.

“There’s a loss of faith in large companies. Young people don’t want to climb the corporate ladder or be part of Procter & Gamble — 56% of them want to start their own business and to be more in control of their own future. The other side of this is that eight out of ten businesses fail. We want to increase the odds of success.” [Sir John Hegarty, November 2014]

Old people are not supposed to be smart like that. Hegarty is 70. Damn, there goes another prejudice down the drain.

Sir John Hegarty is launching an incubator business called The Garage with the venture capitalist, Tom Teichman. It will offer cut-price desk space in The Garage’s office, business advice and up to £50,000 to chosen start-ups, in return for a minority share of their business.

“They have to have an idea that’s disruptive to a current business model; the idea needs to be scalable; and we need to like the people involved.”

Hegarty is even au fait with this year’s most annoying buzzword (disruptive).

Hegarty will work full time at The Garage, except for the one day a month he still gives to BBH. This isn’t his first venture. Hegarty was an early investor in Mind Candy, which launched Moshi Monsters, and Not on the High Street, the U.K. e-commerce site that brings together independent retailers. We should also mention that he was a founding shareholder in Saatchi & Saatchi, co-founded TBWA London in 1973 and helped start Bartle Bogle Hegarty in 1982.

Teichman was also an early investor in Mind Candy and Not on the High Street. They’ve recruited Michael Acton Smith and Holly Tucker, founders of Mind Candy and Not on the High Street respectively, to be what they call the “mechanics” at The Garage. Two senior BBH staffers have also been asked to input – group strategy director, Nick Kendall, and global engagement planning director, Kevin Brown.

Online investing and equity crowdfunding company, Crowdcube, will also be based in The Garage’s offices in a Soho building that Hegarty owns.

Potential candidates are asked to send in three minute videos. Twenty will be chosen to pitch and six will ultimately be invited to work at The Garage’s offices.

“So much of what we do [in advertising] is helping and guiding a business. I want to take all those lessons and employ them helping young companies build a brand. You can have a great idea but in two months someone else will have that same idea or technology. There’s no exclusivity – but there is exclusivity on building a brand, which is why it’s fundamentally important,” Hegarty explained.

“As a creative I love the sense of building something from nothing. At BBH the decisions we made in the first month — like not doing creative pitches — are the decisions that stayed with us for the next 35 years. It doesn’t mean you don’t evolve, but you change your practices and not your principles.”