What does an entrepreneur look like?
A recent survey by the Kauffman Foundation, a pro-entrepreneur group, found that company founders, mostly in the technology sector, tended to be married, middle-class and middle-aged.
– Family: Nearly 70 percent said they were married when they started the business. About 60 percent had at least one child. In the case of their own birth order, the biggest group, 42.5 percent, said they were the first-born.
– Education: They overwhelmingly (95 percent) are college graduates. There was an even split between those who held only bachelor’s degrees and those with more advanced degrees.
– Background: The survey said that 71.5 percent called their parents “middle-class.” That ranged from professional parents with postgraduate degrees to white-collar workers with associate’s degrees. It found 82.5 percent were born in the U.S., with the next biggest country of origin being India, at 3.8 percent.
– Work experience: About a quarter had zero to five years of work experience under their belts before launching or joining a start-up, while 27.6 percent had worked six to 10 years and 23.3 percent 11 to 15 years. The average age of company founders was 40.
The survey was heavily skewed to the technology sector.
Photo by René Magritte.