Vivek Wadhwa - Research

Research - Education and Tech Entrepreneurship
Download Now	Advanced education is critical to the success of tech startups.
	In this study, we explore the education backgrounds of U.S.-born technology and engineering company founders. Despite common stereotypes characterizing these individuals as young college dropouts, we found them to be middle-aged, well-educated and hold degrees from a wide assortment of universities. In fact, twice as many U.S.-born tech entrepreneurs start ventures in their 50s as do those in their early 20s. U.S.-born engineering and tech company founders are overwhelmingly well-educated. While there are significant differences in the types of degrees these entrepreneurs obtain and the time they take to start a company after they graduate. Further, elite, highly ranked schools are over-represented in the ranks of these founders, and Ivy-League graduates achieve the greatest business success; however, 92 percent of U.S.-born founders graduate from other universities.