Unicorn founders did not go to business school, nor did they work at McKinsey. Instead, they were less career-oriented global citizens who typically worked in a startup before they became founders. On average, they had 10 years of work experience prior to founding, mostly within product & engineering, and they almost always lived, worked or studied abroad. Super insightful research by Endeavor -- For more in-depth insights and resources like these, don't forget to subscribe to my newsletter, The VC Corner, where I share my latest findings and thoughts on the startup ecosystem: https://lnkd.in/dWnd6WX9
Full report and interactive graphic here: https://endeavor.org/knowledge-center-events/research-report/unicorn-founder-pathways/
Wow, that's a nice insight! For those who need an explanation, this image is a Sankey diagram, a type of flow diagram that visualizes the movement of individuals between different states or conditions. In this context, it shows the pathways of people’s careers and education leading up to the founding of a "unicorn company," Let's break it down: At the top, you see some people moving to a country where these big companies are common, or they might have studied or worked in different countries. Then, you see the education path: some went to elite universities, others took different majors, and many have an MBA or a graduate degree in science or engineering. The lines show us where these folks worked before starting their own big company. Some had finance roles, some had no full-time job before, and others worked at well-known banks, consulting firms, or big tech companies. Finally, at the bottom, you see the end goal: starting a unicorn company or another business. The thicker the line, the more people took that path. The big circles show popular stopping points on the way to creating a unicorn.
Travel broadens your mind, so not surprised about these findings. Global travel exposes you to new languages, places and ways of life, changing the way you think, making you more worldly and helping you understand different cultural practices. As a result, your brain develops more neurological connections, helping you react, become more creative and problem-solve more quickly. And as you travel over time, you’ll likely find that you build up an extensive network of friends you’ve met along the way. Your interactions with each person you meet will allow you to gain knowledge from their experiences and you learn different things which help you along the way in your own life. If you get to unicorn status one day great, but the reality is that very few do. So how about we start to celebrate businesses who run a profitable business. Bring value and show the youth of today, that as long as you can pay yourself a decent salary, are able to give work to a few others, you are already a success story and amongst the top %. 🌱✨
Sounds like my professional Track. Funny.
Good to know. Seems like I fit many of these. Immigrated to unicorn country, some college, consulting/biz dev/marketing, and worked at bulge bracket bank/startups/tech in the past 10 yrs+. Regardless we all forge our own path. There will be new strings of new paths in the future.
My view is if one doesn’t go to a business school or is not latched to Tier1 companies there is NOT much to loose anyway (Neither fat paychecks nor perks gaurenteed by above ). Hence risk is less ,one is forsaking less and trial and error method shall work again for a small percentage(most who start a Startup shall not be successful ).So it benifits all. While if you come out of ace business school or company even if one doesn’t own unicorn there is high probability one can be better settled than most so stale is way too high.
How does this compare to the 10,000s of founders who went broke?
It's inspiring to see recognition of non-traditional paths to success, valuing real-world experience and global perspectives over elite degrees.
Venture Capital Investor at Mundi Ventures
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