Ilya Strebulaev

Alumni of which university in your state founded the highest number of unicorns?

Stanford University in California leads with 207 companies founded by its alumni. Harvard University in Massachusetts stands with 164 unicorns founded by former students. University of Pennsylvania in Pennsylvania took third place with 67 unicorns.

Other notable institutions include:
– Yale University in Connecticut, with 59 unicorns founded by its alumni
– Cornell University in New York, with 58 unicorns
– University of Michigan in Michigan with 41 unicorns
– Princeton University in New Jersey with 38 unicorns
– University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and University of Chicago in Illinois, with 36 unicorns each

There is large variation among states. Four states — Idaho, Hawaii, South Dakota, North Dakota — have at most one unicorn per university. 10 states have no more than two unicorns from their top universities: Alabama, Delaware, Mississippi, Arkansas, West Virginia, Nebraska, Maine, Nevada, Montana, South Carolina.

Please note that data represents total count of companies created by alumni. While Stanford has “produced“ 285 unicorn founders, they collectively founded 207 companies.

India is home to many well-regarded institutions. Let's examine their impact on the US entrepreneurial scene by looking at the number of US unicorn founders among each university's alumni.

The first four places are held by different Indian Institutes of Technology.
In the lead is the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, which has graduated 16 unicorn founders. IIT Delhi's alumni include Jyoti Bansal, founder of AppDynamics.

Second is the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay with 14 US unicorn founders. IIT Bombay graduate Vijay Krishnan went on to co-found Turing.

Claiming the third spot with 12 US unicorn founders is the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. Ajeet Singh and Dheeraj Pandey got bachelor's degrees from IIT Kanpur. They founded Nutanix alongside Mohit Aron, an IIT Delhi graduate.

In fourth place is the Indian Indian Institute of Technology, Madras with 11 unicorn founders. Fifth place goes to a non-IIT institution, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani (BITS), with 10 unicorn founders

Our research identified 165 US unicorn founders with degrees from Indian universities. The data shows a clear pattern in their academic backgrounds: 75 (45%) studied engineering and 70 (42%) studied computer science. In total, 81% of these entrepreneurs pursued degrees in either computer science, engineering, or both – highlighting the strong focus of Indian education on hard and applied sciences.

Thank you to the Stanford University Graduate School of Business Venture Capital Initiative team for spearheading this research.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐒 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐞

India is home to many well-regarded institutions. In this post, I examine their impact on the US entrepreneurial scene by looking at the number of US unicorn founders among each university’s alumni.
 
The first four places are all held by different Indian Institutes of Technology.
 
🥇 In the lead is the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (IIT Delhi), which has graduated 16 unicorn founders. One notable figure from IIT Delhi is Jyoti Bansal, the founder of AppDynamics.
 
🥈 Second is the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT Bombay) with 14 US unicorn founders. Among its accomplished alumni is Vijay Krishnan, who co-founded Turing.
 
🥉 Claiming the third spot with 12 US unicorn founders is the Indian Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT Kanpur). Ajeet Singh and Dheeraj Pandey got bachelor's degrees from IIT Kanpur. Together with Mohit Aron, who received his undergraduate degree from IIT Delhi, they founded the thriving company Nutanix.
 
In fourth place is the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT Madras) with 11 unicorn founders. Fifth place goes to a non-IIT institution, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani (BITS), with 10 unicorn founders.
 
Also important to consider is the academic focus of US unicorn founders hailing from Indian universities. Through our research, we uncovered 165 cases of US unicorn founders with degrees from Indian universities. Of these, 75 (45%) studied engineering in India and 70 (42%) studied computer science. A staggering 81% of these founders pursued degrees in either computer science, engineering, or both. This figure reflects the strong inclination of Indian education toward hard and applied sciences.
 
To my Indian readers, are these results surprising to you, or did you already have a hunch about the top universities?

Which other countries would you like me to explore in future posts? I'd love to hear your suggestions in the comments section.

Thank you to the Stanford University Graduate School of Business Venture Capital Initiative for support.

#stanford #stanfordgsb #venturecapital #startups #innovation #technology #india

Which schools are more likely to produce unicorn founders?

Business school graduates are more likely than ever to start companies.

For the sample of 531 U.S. unicorns, my team at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business Venture Capital Initiative and I carefully identified 1,356 founders (not an easy task!). Out of these, 238 founders earned a business school graduate degree, with 25 business schools having at least two founders among their alumni. For each business school, we then estimated the total number of full-time MBA graduates between 2000 and 2015. The ratio of total graduates over unicorn founders is the “per capita” unicorn founder production of each business school, which eliminates the bias caused by the unequal size of the school’s classes (e.g., Harvard Business School is twice as large as Stanford University Graduate School of Business).

The Stanford University Graduate School of Business is ahead with 3 unicorn founders per 1,000 MBA alumni, with Harvard Business School second at 1.6, and University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business third at 1.4. The chart shows the US business schools ranked accordingly.

#startups #unicorns #venturecapital #businessschools #MBA