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5 myths about entrepreneurs

The stereotypical vision of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg-type Silicon Valley entrepreneurs maybe be a fallacy according to Vivek Wadhwa (Washington Post columnist and director of research at the Center for Entrepreneurship and Research Commercialization at Duke University). Although these are they type that get press because they are funded with venture capital, they are not typical of America entrepreneur.

Here’s the list of the top 5 major misconceptions:

1. Tech entrepreneurs are in their 20s

Most founders, when they started their companies are 40. Twice as many are older than 50 as are younger than 25.

2. Entrepreneurs are born, not made

52% are the first in their families to start a business. Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Russell Simmons – Their parents were academics, lawyers, factory workers and bureaucrats.

3. College dropouts make better entrepreneurs

Companies founded by college grads have twice the sales and workforce of companies founded by people who didn’t go to college. But attending top their university doesn’t provide an advantage in entrepreneurship.

4. Women can’t cut it in the tech world

Women start only around 3% of US technology companies. And they are almost absent in high-level positions. Despite the fact that women earn more than half of all bachelor’s and master’s degrees and nearly half of all doctorates.

5. Venture capital is a prerequisite for innovation

Less than 5% of venture capital goes to early-stage companies. A survey of 500 companies in high-growth industries revealed that less than 11% of these companies took venture capital at any stage of their existence.

SOURCE: Washington Post

Spark Hire Team

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