May 1, 2008
New Study Debunks Myth That Most Tech Entrepreneurs Are College Kids
A new study from researchers at Duke University and Harvard University challenges the popular assumption that most technology entrepreneurs are twee college kids launching businesses from their dorm rooms.
The research, sponsored by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, studied U.S. engineering and technology companies founded between 1995 and 2005. It found that the median and average age at which U.S.-born entrepreneurs founded their technology and engineering companies was 39. There were twice as many entrepreneurs older than fifty than those who were younger than twenty-five, and 1 percent of U.S.-born founders of tech companies were teenagers.
The study also analyzed these entrepreneurs’ educational backgrounds.
The top ten schools awarding these entrepreneurs’ most advanced degrees were Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Pennsylvania State University, Stanford University, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Missouri, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern California, the University of Texas, and the University of Virginia. Graduates from Ivy League schools represented 8 percent of the founders whose companies had, on average, higher average sales and employment than their counterparts. —Catherine Rampell
Posted on Thursday May 1, 2008 | Permalink |Comments
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That’s a pretty dumb thing to do a study on—I’m pretty sure there isn’t a myth that “most” tech entrepreneurs are college kids, just the understanding that sometimes it happens. It’s like saying “We debunked the myth that smoking causes cancer, it turns out only a small percentage of cancer is caused by smoking.”
— Brad O'Farrell May 3, 12:21 PM #
Are you flipping stupid? Smoking obviously causes lung cancer, which is a form of cancer am I right?
You must be stupid to even try to imply that smoking – cancer link is a myth.
— SC May 3, 12:59 PM #
@2: I think you should re-read what Brad O’Farrell just said.
— Andy May 3, 01:05 PM #
There certainly IS a myth that most tech entrepeneurs start as college-age, and many in-college kids. There certainly IS a myth that most entrepeneurs must be young, or have started multiple enterprises since they were young. This article was interesting and informative because it exposes that many more entrepeneurs start late than early! Honestly, how many people would have thought that the average age of tech entrepeneurs was over 30?
— Brody May 3, 01:35 PM #
Brody, just because it makes you feel better that you haven’t achieved anything with your middle-aged life yet, it’s still a pretty useless article written to fill content on an ad-revenue driven site.
— Poppy May 3, 02:49 PM #
@Brody… I’m not suprised by this at all. In fact the only reason I clicked on this story in Digg was the ridiculous premise in the article title. I have never heard this so called myth.
Other than Zuck, name one other tech CEO that started his company from his dorm room.
— bscene May 3, 03:19 PM #
@bscene… Bill Gates.
— M-H May 3, 04:01 PM #
“the University of Missouri,”
Uhm, which one, there’s like seven. Rolla, the engineering school, Columbia, the biggest, UMKC, the business and entrepreneurship school (Bloch & Kauffman)… any of those 3 are good guesses for which they mean.
— Chaos Motor May 3, 05:25 PM #
I’m with Brody. I have also heard this myth on several occasions and it was interesting to read about a formal study done to check it out.
— jack May 3, 05:55 PM #
@bscene — Michael Dell
— Wyatt Lehmenkuler May 3, 06:43 PM #
You just blown YCombinator business model!
— kro May 3, 06:56 PM #
@bscene – Steves Wozniak and Jobs
— darwin May 4, 03:14 AM #
When someone says University of Missouri, they mean Columbia, not Rolla. When someone says University of Illinois, they mean Urbana, not Springfield. When someone says University of Wisconsin, they mean Madison, not Stevens Point. It isn’t that difficult.
— David Lange May 5, 07:45 AM #
What I really think is funny is “twee college kids”….what is up with that?
— jlp May 8, 04:13 PM #