SV Founders Report (4/5): What Successful Founders Did Before Making it.
By: Samaipata Writer
Tags: Success, Entrepreneurship, Startup, Team, Founders

SV Founders Report (4/5): What Successful Founders Did Before Making it.

By Siddharth Choksi, Marketing Analyst at Samaipata Ventures. We analysed roughly 200 founders across Europe who exited for, or raised rounds above $50M in the past decade, not for their financial success, but the technological disruption they caused. We analysed over 15 different variables, here are some of our key findings.

In this post we’re going to be taking a look at the journeys of founders prior to ‘succeeding’ in the eventful world of entrepreneurship.

1. TRIAL AND ERROR.

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT!

The figures above say everything. 2 in 3 European founders, and more than 70% of unicorn founders, had at least 1 previous shot at entrepreneurship before launching the venture that put them on our list. That’s staggering!

“It ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.” — Rocky Balboa

It’s worth noting that a large amount of the one-time entrepreneurs are first-time entrepreneurs still involved in their first venture. Thus, we can safely assume that if we were to re-analyse the same database of founders in a few years time, the number of serial entrepreneurs will greatly increase.

2. FOREIGN EXPERIENCE.

EXPLORE. OBSERVE. NETWORK. LEARN.

The vast majority of European founders, in fact more than 4 in 5, have either academic or professional experience in a foreign country!

It’s hard to stress the importance of exposing yourself to foreign cultures and markets; amongst numerous factors, you give yourself a better view of how consumers behave in different places, and you get to meet people from all over the world that may one day help realise your entrepreneurial aspirations.

In comparison, the figure for unicorn founders seems rather low. We believe this has to do with roughly 2 in 3 of these founders being American; it’s our understanding that given the vast professional and academic opportunities that the US has to offer, travel may not necessarily be a top priority.

As we saw in our last post, Europe is incredibly diverse, each country has a different culture and different specialities. So, depending on your field of interest, a different country may be a better launchpad for your career.

Why it Pays to Travel by Global Degree

3. REAL EXPERIENCE.

*Relevant: either same industry or same position in another field.

As the chart above shows, most European founders have previous experience that’s relevant to their startup. This goes to show that it’s probably in one’s best interest to gain some professional experience in the field they’re seeking to launch their startup; being actively involved in the industry can give you invaluable insights that may help you address market pains more effectively.

4. A MIXTURE OF TALENTS.

*Financial Sector = Banking, Insurance, Consulting, or Venture Capital

Nearly half of the European founders in our analysis have had professional experience in the financial sector; a large figure when put next to the 22% in unicorn founders. It came to our attention that numerous founders emerged from initially pursuing a career in a respected field to later pivot to the thrilling world of entrepreneurship.

Note: we’re by no means suggesting to pursue a position in the financial sector, nor insinuating that a background in the sector will translate in becoming a good founder; it’s simply an interesting observation.

*Technical Degrees = Computer Science or Computer Engineering.

In an earlier post we talked about the academic backgrounds of founders and saw that over 90% have university diplomas, however, what we didn’t get into is the nature of their academia.

Looking at the figures above, having a ‘technical’ co-founder may be something worth considering. However, what’s even more important is having a well-balanced team; the skill-sets of founders need to complement one another to truly help the company in realising its aspirations. Here at Samaipata, we deeply value role-division; co-founders have got to be masters in their respective fields! 💪

Flexibility and solid team dynamics are essential.