New Study from Kauffman Foundation Analyzes Background and Motivations of Successful Entrepreneurs

A new study from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation analyzes the backgrounds and motivations of entrepreneurs who have established successful companies.

The study, "The Anatomy of an Entrepreneur: Family Background and Motivation," was published this month.

The authors of the study interviewed about 550 company founders from a variety of industries, including aerospace and defense, computers, electronics, healthcare and services.

The research showed that entrepreneurs are typically well-educated and experienced. They have ideas they want to commercialize, are motivated to build wealth, and like the idea of being their own bosses in a startup.

The entrepreneurs in the study were likely to be more educated than their parents and to come from the middle class or the upper-lower class, with very few coming from backgrounds of extreme wealth or extreme poverty. They performed well in high school and college, with the vast majority ranking average or above in their educational institutions.

Entrepreneurs don't always come from families of entrepreneurs, however. A little over half of the sample were the first in their families to start a business.

These company founders are much more likely to be married and have children when they launch their business.

The authors plan to continue the research into a new round of inquiry that will focus on "the deeper formative factors that influence this select and incredibly important class of individuals."