startup study: entrepreneurial activity by harvard business school students
TRANSCRIPT
New STARTUP Data:
Entrepreneurial Activity by Harvard MBAs
a study of recent classes at
In February 2014, HBS grad and EverTrue founder/CEO Brent Grinna wrote a great post about HBS founders.
In February 2014, HBS grad and EverTrue founder/CEO Brent Grinna wrote a great post about HBS founders.
In February 2014, HBS grad and EverTrue founder/CEO Brent Grinna wrote a great post about HBS founders.
In February 2014, HBS grad and EverTrue founder/CEO Brent Grinna wrote a great post about HBS founders.
(You can find the article here.)
In the post, Brent offers a few very valid points.
Lots of people are saying Harvard MBAs aren’t good startup founders.
In the post, Brent offers a few very valid points.
Lots of people are saying Harvard MBAs aren’t good startup founders.
Many claim these grads start “only” a small percent of Unicorn startups.
In the post, Brent offers a few very valid points.
Lots of people are saying Harvard MBAs aren’t good startup founders.
Many claim these grads start “only” a small percent of Unicorn startups.
But, um, the DATA says otherwise, so please sit back and enjoy while I
lay the smack down on all the haters out there who’d claim such things.
In the post, Brent offers a few very valid points.
Lots of people are saying Harvard MBAs aren’t good startup founders.
Many claim these grads start “only” a small percent of Unicorn startups.
But, um, the DATA says otherwise, so please sit back and enjoy while I
lay the smack down on all the haters out there who’d claim such things.
Okay, so we may have editorialized a little bit.
In the post, Brent offers a few very valid points.
Lots of people are saying Harvard MBAs aren’t good startup founders.
Many claim these grads start “only” a small percent of Unicorn startups.
But, um, the DATA says otherwise, so please sit back and enjoy while I
lay the smack down on all the haters out there who’d claim such things.
Okay, so we may have editorialized a little bit. (Sorry Brent!)
In our experience at NextView, we’d say yes.
But still, we wondered:
Do Harvard MBAs make PROLIFIC startup founders?
In our experience at NextView, we’d say yes.
But we decided to look at the data and expand Brent’s study of the 2009 and 2010 classes to include more years.
But still, we wondered:
Do Harvard MBAs make PROLIFIC startup founders?
INSIDE THE DATA
Startups Founded by
Harvard MBAs ClassES 2008-14
Researched by Dimitri Dadiomov (@dadiomov) HBS ’15 | MBA Associate, NextView Ventures
In total, HBS classes 2008-14 exhibit the following activity:
• 260+ Founders • 90+ STARTUPS • S2.5B+ Raised I
Com
pani
es F
ound
ed
Dollars Raised
$1.4B
$1.2B
$1B
$800M
$600M
$0
$200M
$400M
33
Graduating Classes (Total Founders)
38 49 58 25 21 41
(To Date) (To Date)
Com
pani
es F
ound
ed
Dollars Raised
$1.4B
$1.2B
$1B
$800M
$600M
$0
$200M
$400M
33
Graduating Classes (Total Founders)
38 49 58 25 21 41
It’s important to note that we’re using capital raised as a proxy for entrepreneurial
activity, not a definite cause of success.
(To Date) (To Date)
Com
pani
es F
ound
ed
Dollars Raised
$1.4B
$1.2B
$1B
$800M
$600M
$0
$200M
$400M
33
Graduating Classes (Total Founders)
38 49 58 25 21 41
The Class of 2011 was the outlier, with 58 founders of 26 companies raising more than
$1.15B in venture capital.
(To Date) (To Date)
Com
pani
es F
ound
ed
Dollars Raised
$1.4B
$1.2B
$1B
$800M
$600M
$0
$200M
$400M
33
Graduating Classes (Total Founders)
38 49 58 25 21 41
Prior to 2011, HBS founders raised an average of about $400M.
(To Date) (To Date)
Com
pani
es F
ound
ed
Dollars Raised
$1.4B
$1.2B
$1B
$800M
$600M
$0
$200M
$400M
33
Graduating Classes (Total Founders)
38 49 58 25 21 41
Time will tell for the more recent classes. To date, they’ve raised roughly $200M total.
(To Date) (To Date)
Next, we looked at the sectors in which these HBS classes launched their companies:
• 30% Ecommerce • 23% b2c Tech • 22% b2b Tech
Ecommerce 30%
Enterprise 22%
Consumer 23%
Cleantech 5%
Health 9%
Fintech 4%
Education 7%
Startups Founded by HBS Classes, ‘08-’14: Sector
Ecommerce 30%
Enterprise 22%
Consumer 23%
Cleantech 5%
Health 9%
Fintech 4%
Education 7%
Startups Founded by HBS Classes, ‘08-’14: Sector
These HBS classes showed a relatively broad spectrum of interests in attacking
problems across various sectors.
Third: Harvard is a talent magnet both domestically and globally. So where did these MBAs launch their startups?
• 39% East Coast U.s. (Boston & NYC)
• 26% California • 22% Outside N.A.
Third: Harvard is a talent magnet both domestically and globally. So where did these MBAs launch their startups?
Boston 12%
New York 27%
California 26%
Other US & Canada
13%
Asia 5%
Europe 6%
Africa 3%
Latin & South
America 8%
Startups Founded by HBS '08-’14: Geography
Boston 12%
New York 27%
California 26%
Other US & Canada
13%
Asia 5%
Europe 6%
Africa 3%
Latin & South
America 8%
Startups Founded by HBS '08-’14: Geography
Heated discussion currently permeates Boston Tech regarding the city’s need to
improve retention of its top students, and rightfully so according to this data.
If they follow earlier classes, the more recent grads of 2012 to 2014 represent a hefty sum of investments:
S1Billion I
If they follow earlier classes, the more recent grads of 2012 to 2014 represent a hefty sum of investments:
S1Billion I
If they follow earlier classes, the more recent grads of 2012 to 2014 represent a hefty sum of investments:
S1Billion I
If they follow earlier classes, the more recent grads of 2012 to 2014 represent a hefty sum of investments:
So we’ve seen…
• Lots of startups • Lots of capital • Lots of sectors • Lots of geographies • And even some “unicorns”
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