Entrepreneur Statistics [MBA Friday Facts]

Are you starting your own business and looking to learn from other entrepreneurs? There are some common traits shared by most successful entrepreneurs, as outlined in the Kauffman Foundation's Anatomy of an Entrepreneur reports. Read on to find out what they are.

• Most company founders are middle aged. Kauffman Foundation research revealed that the average and median age for founders starting a company was 40. (The Anatomy of an Entrepreneur: Family Background and Motivation, Kauffman Foundation, 2009, PDF)

• Company founders also tend to be well-educated. Over 95.1% of the founders surveyed by the Kauffman Foundation had a bachelor's degree and 47% had advanced degrees. (The Anatomy of an Entrepreneur: Family Background and Motivation, Kauffman Foundation, 2009, PDF)

• Academically, founders do really well in high-school, but not as well in college. 75% of respondents said they were among the top 30% of students in their high school class, but only 29.5% of respondents said the same of their college academic performance. (The Anatomy of an Entrepreneur: Family Background and Motivation, Kauffman Foundation, 2009, PDF)

• Most founders grew up in middle or upper-lower class families -- 21.8% in upper-lower class families, 36.9% in lower-middle class families, and 34.6% in upper-middle class families. (The Anatomy of an Entrepreneur: Family Background and Motivation, Kauffman Foundation, 2009, PDF)

• There is little difference in the life circumstances of successful male and female founders, according to Kauffman Foundation Data. (The Anatomy of an Entrepreneur: Are Successful Women Entrepreneurs Different from Men?, Kauffman Foundation, 2010, PDF)

• More women than men list previous experience as one of the most important factors in running a successful startup.  (The Anatomy of an Entrepreneur: Are Successful Women Entrepreneurs Different from Men?, Kauffman Foundation, 2010, PDF)

• 73% of successful founders cited professional networking as one of the things that has made their business successful, but only 62% of founders said they felt the same way about their personal networks. (The Anatomy of an Entrepreneur: Making of a Entrepreneur, Kauffman Foundation, 2009, PDF)

• 70% of successful founders used personal savings as the primary means of financing their startup. (The Anatomy of an Entrepreneur: Making of a Entrepreneur, Kauffman Foundation, 2009, PDF)

• 82% of entrepreneurs cite management teams as an important factor in the success of their current business. Good-luck was the second most cited factor, at 73%. (The Anatomy of an Entrepreneur: Making of a Entrepreneur, Kauffman Foundation, 2009, PDF)

• The number of new Latino entrepreneurs has more than doubled between 1996 and 2011. (Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity Infographic)

• Men start companies at twice the rate of their female counterparts. (Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity Infographic)

• The states with the highest entrepreneurship rates in 2010-2011 were Arizona, Colorado, California, Texas, and Alaska. (Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity Infographic)