Skip to main content

Stanford, Harvard Produce Most VC-Backed Entrepreneurs

By September 6, 2018Article

East or west? Ivy or public? Undergrad or grad? The debate over which type of school produces the most successful graduates is as old as the university system itself.  PitchBook’s latest report on top universities compiles how many venture-capital-backed entrepreneurs, companies and dollars have been produced by major universities.

The result? Stanford was the top-producing undergraduate program while Harvard grad school students produced the most entrepreneurs. 

“The people you went to university or graduate programs with remain a key component in your network,” says PitchBook in the new report. “Of course, it is important to note that the types and reputation of certain programs will also draw in the types of people that go on to launch startups, thus skewing trends to a certain degree… That is why we also provide a handy tally of shifts in rankings, as thereby it is easier to see just how much certain schools have crept up over the years.”

The venture capital researcher also looked at how many female entrepreneurs, unicorns, serial entrepreneurs, and exits were produced by each university, in addition to the split between Ivy League and non-Ivy schools.  Click here to download the PitchBook Universities 2018-19 report.

 Note: All data in this report is from the start of 2006 through the end of June 30, 2018. Source: PitchBook Universities 2018-19 

Clare Christopher is editor of SandHill.com.

Copy link
Powered by Social Snap