Demographics of Entrepreneurs
We recently pulled together some numbers about our user community at www.venturereturns.com. I thought that they were interesting not only because they told us something our user community but because I think that we have the most comprehensive data set on venture and private-equity backed entrepreneurs. This information provides some good insight into some key demographic end experience details about modern entrepreneurs.
Here are some key demographics from the www.venturereturns.com database. I find it interesting how few women entrepreneurs there still are. Maybe even more interesting is that, despite the really young entrepreneurs all over the news like the founders of YouTube, Facebook, etc., the average age of entrepreneurs is 47. Also interesting is that nearly 60% of those in our database are C-level executives. Finally, I would have guessed that the "typical" entrepreneur would have founded more companies. As it stands, the typical entrepreneur has only founded 1.5 companies.
Gender
Female: 7.7%
Male: 92.3%
Age
Under 25: 0.4%
26-30: 1.6%
31-35: 4.4%
36-40: 18.5%
41-50: 46.6%
51-60: 25.7%
61-70: 2.8%
70+: 0.0%
Average Age: 47
Current Role of the Entrepreneur
CEO: 28.6%
President or COO: 13.3%
CFO or equivalent: 14.1%
Head of Technology: 12.9%
Chief Scientist: 3.5%
General Counsel: 1.2%
Head of an Operating Unit: 6.3%
Head of Business Development: 9.4%
Head of Marketing: 5.9%
Head of Sales: 4.7%
Industry of Entrepreneur
Biopharmaceutical: 9.3%
Business Services: 2.3%
Computers and Electronics: 3.5%
Construction: 0.8%
Consumer Products: 2.3%
Defense: 0.8%
Financial Services: 0.4%
Healthcare Services: 5.8%
Information Systems: 3.5%
Insurance: 0.8%
Internet / SaaS: 7.8%
IT Services: 0.8%
Materials and Chemicals: 0.8%
Media: 1.2%
Medical Devices: 7.4%
Nanotechnology: 0.8%
Networking Technology: 8.6%
Real Estate: 1.2%
Semiconductors: 8.6%
Software: 20.6%
Telecom: 1.2%
Wireless: 8.9%
Other: 2.7%
How the Entreprenuer Got Connected to their Venture / PE Fund
Previously received funding from the fund: 4.7%
Previously worked with one of the investors: 50.0%
Somebody at my company reached out to the fund: 6.4%
Somebody at the fund contacted me: 16.5%
Through a mutual friend or industry contact: 6.4%
Through an angel group: 13.1%
Through another fund:2.1%
Other: 5.5%
Number of Companies the Entrepreneur Has Founded
0: 24.0%
1: 30.4%
2: 24.0%
3: 13.6%
4: 4.8%
5: 3.2%
6+: 0.0%
Average: 1.5
Here are some key demographics from the www.venturereturns.com database. I find it interesting how few women entrepreneurs there still are. Maybe even more interesting is that, despite the really young entrepreneurs all over the news like the founders of YouTube, Facebook, etc., the average age of entrepreneurs is 47. Also interesting is that nearly 60% of those in our database are C-level executives. Finally, I would have guessed that the "typical" entrepreneur would have founded more companies. As it stands, the typical entrepreneur has only founded 1.5 companies.
Gender
Female: 7.7%
Male: 92.3%
Age
Under 25: 0.4%
26-30: 1.6%
31-35: 4.4%
36-40: 18.5%
41-50: 46.6%
51-60: 25.7%
61-70: 2.8%
70+: 0.0%
Average Age: 47
Current Role of the Entrepreneur
CEO: 28.6%
President or COO: 13.3%
CFO or equivalent: 14.1%
Head of Technology: 12.9%
Chief Scientist: 3.5%
General Counsel: 1.2%
Head of an Operating Unit: 6.3%
Head of Business Development: 9.4%
Head of Marketing: 5.9%
Head of Sales: 4.7%
Industry of Entrepreneur
Biopharmaceutical: 9.3%
Business Services: 2.3%
Computers and Electronics: 3.5%
Construction: 0.8%
Consumer Products: 2.3%
Defense: 0.8%
Financial Services: 0.4%
Healthcare Services: 5.8%
Information Systems: 3.5%
Insurance: 0.8%
Internet / SaaS: 7.8%
IT Services: 0.8%
Materials and Chemicals: 0.8%
Media: 1.2%
Medical Devices: 7.4%
Nanotechnology: 0.8%
Networking Technology: 8.6%
Real Estate: 1.2%
Semiconductors: 8.6%
Software: 20.6%
Telecom: 1.2%
Wireless: 8.9%
Other: 2.7%
How the Entreprenuer Got Connected to their Venture / PE Fund
Previously received funding from the fund: 4.7%
Previously worked with one of the investors: 50.0%
Somebody at my company reached out to the fund: 6.4%
Somebody at the fund contacted me: 16.5%
Through a mutual friend or industry contact: 6.4%
Through an angel group: 13.1%
Through another fund:2.1%
Other: 5.5%
Number of Companies the Entrepreneur Has Founded
0: 24.0%
1: 30.4%
2: 24.0%
3: 13.6%
4: 4.8%
5: 3.2%
6+: 0.0%
Average: 1.5
posted by VentureReturns at
6:23 AM
4 Comments:
I'm curious what sort of sampling error might exist in your data. In particular, I wonder if venturereturns.com is just sampling the older and/or less experienced side of the market. Surely some Ph.D. candidates must have done demographic surveys of entrepreneurs; I'd be curious how your data compares to theirs.
Thom thanks for your comment. I am sure that there probably is a sampling error, but I actually think that our entrepreneurs would likely differ from others in the following ways:
1) More experienced
2) Venture-backed, as opposed to those who have bootstrapped businesses
3) Technology focused
I think that our entrepreneurs are actually more experienced because they are almost exclusively senior managers of venture backed startups, they are are on average 47 years old. I would guess that this is actually a bit older than the typical entrepreneur. Thanks for your thoughts. Let me know if you find another study.
This is great information. Thanks alot.
thanks BLD, I appreciate it.
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