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-born tech
Entrepreneurship entrepreneur demographics
Education
engineering companies
Following is a synopsis of a study that challenges the perception of American technology
epreneurship entrepreneurs as being 20-something students from elite universities. From a survey of
and Tech Entr 652 U.S.-born chief executive officers from 502 engineering and technology companies
The majority of U.S.-born tech established from 1995 through 2005, this study reveals that today’s American tech
founders holding bachelor’s, entrepreneurs are middle aged, well educated in business or technical disciplines, and
May 2008
master’s, PhD, MD, and JD
Vivek Wadhwa
hold degrees from a wide assortment of universities. The study, published in May 2008,
Richard Freeman
was funded by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and conducted by researchers at
degrees fall within the thirty-
Ben Rissing
Contact:
Barbara Pruitt
816-932-1288 • U.S.-born tech founders holding MBA degrees established companies more
bpruitt@kauffman.org quickly (thirteen years) than others. Those with PhDs waited twenty-one years to
Universities and Tech Entrepreneurship
Kauffman Foundation start companies; other master’s degree holders took 14.7 years; and those with
W
bachelor’s degrees took 16.7 years.
e found that U.S.-born tech founders of Top Ten Universities Graduating
• U.S.-born tech founders holding computer science and information technology
engineering and technology companies U.S.-Born Key Tech Founders
tend to graduate from a wide degrees foundedThe companies sooner after graduating than engineering degree
628 U.S.-born tech founders providing
assortment of universities. While holders
elite, (14.3 information
years vs. 17.6 years). Applied science majors took the longest, at
on their terminal (highest) degree,
highly ranked schools hold no monopoly on tech twenty years. received their education from 287 unique universities.
entrepreneurship, some elite schools are over- Almost every major U.S. university was represented on
represented in the ranks of these tech founders, and
www.kauffman.org
companies formed by these schools’ graduates
this list. The top ten institutions in this group
accounted for only 19 percent of the entire sample, as
(over)
W
Ivy School Tech Founders Receiving a BS, MS, All 2005 BS, MS, and
e found a correlation
or PhD Degree from This School PhD Degree Recipients
between a U.S.-born tech
Ivy-League Schools: 8% founder’s terminal degree 2%
Brown University, and company performance.
Columbia University, Figure 7 displays the average 2005 sales
Cornell University, and total employment of the startups in
Dartmouth College,
our sample. In 2005, the average sales
Harvard University,
revenue of all startups in our sample was
Princeton University,
around $5.7 million, and these companies
University of Pennsylvania,
employed an average of forty-two
Yale University,
workers. Startups established by tech
Non-Ivy Schools 92% with terminal Ivy-League degrees
founders 98%
Total had100%
higher average sales and 100%
employment—$6.7 million and fifty-five
1National 2005 bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD degree production data was obtained from the Institute for Education Sciences–National Center for
Education Statistics. Individual schools’ 2005 graduation statisticsworkers, respectively.
were obtained The success
from 2005 commencement of these
announcements.
two groups markedly contrasted with
startups established by tech founders with
• The top ten universities from which U.S.-born tech high school terminal
founders degrees,
received their which
highest had are Harvard, Stanford,
degrees
E D U C AT I O N A N D Tthan
less E C Hhalf
E N Tthe
R E Paverage
R E N E U Rrevenues
SHIP and 7
University of Pennsylvania, MIT, University of Texas, University of California-Berkeley, University of Missouri,
number of employees—$2.2 million and
Pennsylvania State University, University of Southern California, and University of Virginia.
eighteen workers.
• U.S.-born tech founders with Ivy-League degrees tend to establish startups that produce higher revenue ($6.7
million) and employ more workers (55) than the average ($5.7 million and 42, respectively). Success of startups
founded by those with only high school degrees contrasts sharply, with only $2.2 million in revenue and 18 workers.
• Nearly half (45 percent) of the startups were established in the same state where U.S.-born tech founders received
their education. Of the tech founders receiving degrees from California, 69 percent later created a startup in
University/Location of Startup
the state; Michigan, 58 percent; Texas, 53 percent; and Ohio, 52 percent. In contrast, Maryland retained only 15
percent; Indiana, 18 percent; and New York, 21 percent.
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academi
and the
establish
the tech
startups
awarded
U.S.-bor
individua
academi
of the fi
breakou
least twe
degrees
8 E D U C AT I O N A N D T E C H E N T R E P R E N E U R
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