Data and research
Data and research on partners, founders and unicorns: findings from Stanford, Carta, venture funds and surveys. How many founders leave in the first years, what co-owners really fight about, who creates unicorns and how often. Every figure comes with its source.
By year
- 52024
- 202025
- 22026
All publications 27
Why does making a partnership official not mean the partners have agreed?
A charter and a shareholders' agreement describe how the company is structured, not how the partners will work together. Conflicts are triggered by a sense of unfairness rather than the numbers in a document, and most disputes never reach court.
Original: Site blog
Topics: Partnership agreement · Why partners avoid signing an agreement · Data and research
Who falls in love faster, and who falls harder: men or women?
A study in Springer Nature Biology finds that men realise they are in love about a month earlier, while women feel it more intensely, peaking at engagement and dropping sharply in the first two years of marriage. The author asks whether this carries over to business partnership.
Topics: Data and research
Who studied more before founding a unicorn: men or women?
Women. A Stanford analysis of 3,131 unicorn founders (199 of them women) found MBA or PhD as the highest degree in 45% of women and 39% of men, with bachelor's levels almost equal.
Original: LinkedIn
Topics: Data and research
Which year in the past 20 produced the most of today's active unicorns?
2015: it accounts for 10% of the 1,691 US-founded unicorns in a Stanford GSB analysis. The 2022-2024 cohorts give only 1% each, since reaching unicorn status historically takes about 7 years.
Original: LinkedIn
Topics: Data and research
Is the era of easy entry into venture capital over?
A study by Strebulaev and Jackson of 10,316 junior VC professionals in the US (2000-2025) shows the inflow of newcomers rising to a 2022 peak, then falling to 509 by 2025, half that level. Capital is costlier and funds more cautious.
Topics: Data and research
Does a written exit mechanism help founders keep control of the company?
Yes: in Carta's 2024 report, 72% of founders with a written exit mechanism kept control of the company after a split, against only 38% of those without one. The question is not trust in the partner but readiness for any scenario.
Topics: A partner's exit from the business · Data and research · Partnership: the blind spot of business
What happens to a business when a founder leaves with nothing agreed?
According to Carta, in 68% of companies with no exit mechanisms, one founder leaving leads to a management crisis or a complete freeze. An exit plan is needed not in case of betrayal but in case of life.
Topics: A partner's exit from the business · Data and research · Partnership: the blind spot of business
Why are most co-owner conflicts not about money?
They are about expectations: per Carta, over 80% of founders launch without a formal agreement. Who decides, who has the last word on a sale, when dividends are paid: without written rules, emotions settle all of it.
Topics: Data and research · Partnership: the blind spot of business · Why partners avoid signing an agreement
How often does the founding team change in the first five years?
Per Carta, 53% of companies with several founders change their co-founder lineup within the first five years. Partnerships break up over differences in pace and goals and plain fatigue, so mature founders plan for parting as well as growth.
Topics: A partner's exit from the business · Data and research · Partnership: the blind spot of business
How often do Ukrainians found billion-dollar companies?
Ukraine ranks 10th in the world by number of unicorn founders (12) and 6th per capita, at 0.32 per million people. The data come from Ilya Strebulaev's Stanford research; the author asks how to turn individual strength into a systemic advantage for the country.
Topics: Data and research
How can Ukrainian startups get enough funding to reach unicorn scale?
Crunchbase data show a typical startup raises about $340M before a $1B valuation, while Ukrainian rounds in 2025 stay at pre-seed and seed. It takes new funds, large cheques and long work, including on relations between founders.
Topics: Data and research
Why do venture funds look for partners with an MBA less and less?
In 2000 every second senior investment partner in venture capital held an MBA; in 2025 only 36 % do. Funds now look for technology knowledge, founder experience and industry depth: what matters is the value a partner can bring, not where they studied.
Original: Telegram
Topics: Data and research
At what age and with what experience do people enter venture capital?
A Stanford GSB study finds that 42 % of US venture investors entered the field at 20–29, 38 % at 30–39 and 7 % after 50; the median age is 31. For most it is not a first job: 7 % had built their own companies and 11 % had worked at startups.
Topics: Data and research
Who decides where venture money goes in the US?
A Stanford study of 22,000+ decision-makers over 25 years found that 79% are men (60% white), 21% are women and 0.8% are Black women. The author advises founders to know this map of power when negotiating with investors.
Topics: Data and research
How does funding of future unicorns differ in the early rounds?
Companies that become unicorns raise 3–4 times more capital in every round: $9M against $2M at seed, $105M against $27M at Series C, $304M against $66M at Series G. Causation is unproven, but the correlation is plain.
Topics: Data and research
Who really controls the market of venture-backed unicorns?
Ilya Strebulaev's Stanford study of 1,500 unicorns and over 11,000 investors found six funds holding more than 100 unicorns each, controlling almost 30% of investment. Sequoia Capital leads with 134.
Topics: Data and research
Is it true that unicorns are huge corporations?
No: a Stanford study led by Ilya Strebulaev found that 46% of unicorns employ fewer than 500 people and another 30% between 500 and 1,000. The author expects AI and automation to make unicorn teams even smaller.
Topics: Data and research
Do you need a formal education to found a unicorn?
Per Stanford GSB, unicorn founders are twice as likely as the average American over 25 to hold a bachelor's degree, three times a master's and six times a doctorate, and five times less likely to lack higher education. Gates is, the author says, an exception.
Topics: Data and research
Do you need an MBA to build a unicorn?
No: a Stanford GSB study found an MBA held by 424 of 2,975 unicorn founders, or 14%. 112 business schools have produced at least one such founder, but the six top schools account for over half of the MBA holders.
Topics: Data and research
What did the founders of unicorns most often study?
Ilya Strebulaev of Stanford analysed almost 2,200 unicorn founders: 95% hold a bachelor's degree, and Computer Science, Engineering and Economics account for 53% of all degrees. The sample spans 47 majors, from theology to anthropology.
Topics: Data and research
What do marriage and divorce figures in Ukraine show?
Ukraine's Ministry of Justice reports 150,200 marriages and 141,800 divorces, a near 1:1 ratio, the closest in recent history. No such statistics exist for business partnerships, and the author asks readers whether they see a link.
Topics: Data and research
How much do investors earn from unicorn startups?
On average 3,100% on invested capital, according to a Stanford study (Strebulaev) of 1,516 venture-backed American unicorns. 45 companies returned 50x and only 21 fell below their initial investment; mergers and acquisitions bring 4,900%, IPOs 2,700%.
Original: LinkedIn
Topics: Data and research
How often does a co-founder leave a startup in its first years?
Carta data (13,133 startups, 2015-2024) show that in 25% of venture-backed startups a founder leaves within four years, before the stake has vested. Hence the case for a vesting schedule, a plan for a founder's exit and a partnership agreement.
Original: LinkedIn
Topics: A partner's exit from the business · Co-founders through an investor's eyes · Data and research · Equity split between partners
Who most often founds unicorns in the US?
White men: 75% of founders against 29% of the population; about 14 men for every woman founder. Only Asian founders exceed their population share (17.5% vs 6.4%). Stanford data on 1,110 companies, 1997-2021.
Original: LinkedIn
Topics: Data and research
Do unicorn companies often fail?
Rarely: of American unicorns as of 2020, 26 failed (including Theranos, FTX and VICE Media), 756 stayed private and 1,264 exited. Drawing on Stanford data, the author treats a $1 billion valuation as a good predictor of survival.
Original: LinkedIn
Topics: Data and research
Where does Ukraine rank by founders of unicorns?
By absolute count, 12 founders, Ukraine ranks 10th, and per million inhabitants, 0.32 founders, it ranks 6th. The author calculated this from a Stanford GSB study, in which almost half of unicorn founders were born outside the US.
Original: LinkedIn
Topics: Data and research
What positions do founders hold in unicorn companies?
According to Stanford GSB data (Ilya Strebulaev, 2024) on 1,110 companies, 34% of founders are CEOs, 16% each chair the board or are vice presidents, 13% are CTOs, 12% presidents and 4% COOs. The study found 198 unique job titles.
Original: LinkedIn
Topics: Data and research
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