Art schools have minted more massive Unicorns than MIT

https://medium.com/founder-dialogues/seriously-art-schools-have-minted-more-massive-unicorns-than-mit-5f99cd1bf62c

by replicatorblog • 11 years ago

8 9 11 years ago

1971genocide• 11 years ago

Big surprise than art schools produce more leaders/CEOs than MIT which is a specialized engineering school ?

I was fairly surprised by the finding. Yes MIT is an engineering school, but is much more oriented around the startup lifestyle. They've got an annual entrepreneurship competition, a top 5 business school, and most importantly, a raft of super successful founder/graduates. I think the art school issue is a bit of a fluke, but surprised MIT isn't more like Stanford or Harvard in terms of presence.

gumby• 11 years ago

Believe me MIT is well aware of their poor startup record. I donate enough that people from the development office visit me in person, and they have been worrying for decades that MIT grads go on to work for other people.

When I was a student (80s) MIT was still basically anti-entrepreneurial (this despite Draper, EG&G, etc..even Symbolics and LMI) and instead focused around government R&D and policy. There is so much hysteresis in the system that this culture is very hard to change.

A lot of the things you mention (startup competition) are surface phenomena. Stanford is far and away more deeply entrepreneurial (they were already a bit this way back in the early 80s -- think the Sun/Cisco era).

As for Harvard, well, the reasons I chose not to go there still appear to apply.

h_o• 11 years ago

I don't think this matters. People who want to start businesses will start them - regardless of what school they go to. Sure it's an interesting insight, but don't get knocked by it.

How many unicorns are there where the founder(s) didn't go to college? Plus, it was my understanding that the people who want it more are often less well off - and can't afford to go to these higher priced schools (M.I.T., Harvard etc); perhaps that's a point worth noting too.

Less chips = less flips

*chips referring to 'chips on shoulders'; flips referring to flipping companies

replicatorblog3• 11 years ago

Totally, hence we see startups from the U of Calgary and the Missouri School of Science & Technology. Thankfully we're in a world where amazing founder can come from anywhere.

akhilcacharya3• 11 years ago

Who went to MSST?

Im a bit skeptical that school doesnt matter - but I'd agree with you completely if more founders came from my school, ha-ha.

akhilcacharya3• 11 years ago

Top schools generally are competitive or cheaper for low income families.

I think this is meant to be surprising because people from lesser known instituons are more likely to fall victim to institutional elitism - Sand Hill Road VCs are generally not going to take a University of Oklahoma student as seriously as a Stanford student (at least that's my perception, may not be accurate).

Art schools have minted more massive Unicorns than MIT

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