UM among top universities producing VC-backed entrepreneurs
Among undergrad programs, UM is listed #7 with 712 entrepreneurs, 638 companies and over $12B raised. Link here. We're #11 by capital raised. Among those with female founders, we're #9, and we're #5 for "Unicorns". Other ratings at the link.
Companies out of UM of note include Groupon, 23-and-Me, numerous others.
Top schools are what you'd expect--Stanford, Cal, Harvard, Penn, MIT, and a couple out of China.
If you're curious what a "unicorn" is, my g/f and I would like to take you out for coffee some time.
August 31st, 2018 at 9:07 AM ^
I didn't realize that investment by the Vietcong was a metric that was actively being tracked in this way.
August 31st, 2018 at 9:19 AM ^
Making huge strides in entrepreneurship and VC with cross-discipline courses across the university. These figures also do not appear to include Duo's $2.35B exit to Cisco. #GoBlue
August 31st, 2018 at 9:19 AM ^
I doin't know what a unicorn is in your context...but my wife sure thinks she's one.. hehe
August 31st, 2018 at 9:23 AM ^
Curious to learn two things about the study: time frame of graduation from Michigan and degree of ownership participation required. I've been a minority partner in two VC backed start-ups that had successful exits but I graduated in 1981 so would I count?
August 31st, 2018 at 9:32 AM ^
All it says about time-frame is that data in the report is from the start of 2006 through the end of June 30, 2018. I think it's tied to companies that were VC backed during that period, not when the owners graduated, but I could be wrong.
August 31st, 2018 at 9:59 AM ^
For the record this timeframe and methodology was likely chosen to make Michigan look bad, or rather because the big names did not like what using the years 2001-2005 (and Google's/Page's massive VC success does to their status in relation to Michigan numbers).
They count FB's 2.5B in VC funds but not the value that Google got (prior to 2004 ipo) from only $25M. A better measure of success would be a combination of VC funds given, and the return on that investment... the stat which gives a real world outcome of the value of whatever education the entrepreneur received.
August 31st, 2018 at 9:37 AM ^
mGrowOld were your companies listed on PitchBook? PB does a great job of tracking announcements on financings so I would not be shocked if they focused primarily on companies and financings reported on PB, while also reaching out to universities that historically produce venture-backed companies for additional insights.
https://files.pitchbook.com/website/files/pdf/PitchBook_Universities_2018_2019_Edition.pdf
There's a link in the report to the methodology page.
August 31st, 2018 at 10:07 AM ^
Not sure what happened here but see response below.
August 31st, 2018 at 10:07 AM ^
No. We had a NYC based broker (RM Global) as our representative and they secured the VC meetings that led to the investments from Bain and Primus. One resold to another, larger VC and the other sold to a strategic doing an industry roll-up.
I'm actually with a third VC-backed firm right now (First Analysis) but I'm winding down my day-to-day participation (working 3 days a week) and we're close to selling this one too.
August 31st, 2018 at 10:26 AM ^
Congrats on your successes! Sure there are tons of young UM students/alums who would love to hear your story. I'm a VC attorney here in Ann Arbor and solid, experienced VC fund mentors are hard to come by here in Michigan
August 31st, 2018 at 10:50 AM ^
Home email is [email protected] if you want to connect off-line. Not sure what I can offer anyone but would be glad to help anyway I can.
August 31st, 2018 at 3:27 PM ^
It warms my heart that there is a thread based on this report. I work for PitchBook :)
When your work crosses over with your love for Michigan..what a day. Lol
I'll take that as a good sign for tomorrow.
August 31st, 2018 at 9:47 AM ^
Not for this study
August 31st, 2018 at 10:03 AM ^
mGrowOld, what types of companies did you start? I've got a small specialty chemicals start-up going here in Cleveland, and I'm curious what your experiences were.
August 31st, 2018 at 10:15 AM ^
Insurance-replacement car rental, a distribution aggregator for hospital equipment replacement parts (like an auto-zone for biomedical engineers) and now a medical device firm that produces a tool surgeons use to locate and assess nerves in complex procedures where the human anatomy has been altered.
August 31st, 2018 at 9:28 AM ^
Are you propositioning a threesome for anyone that didn't know that a unicorn is a "venture capital industry, a unicorn refers to any tech startup company that reaches a $1 billion dollar market value as determined by private or public investment."
Cause a/s/l and you're about to be a busy couple.
August 31st, 2018 at 9:36 AM ^
Sorry--our one rule is no socks in bed.
August 31st, 2018 at 10:11 AM ^
Illinois is top ten in something! Good for them. Seriously.
August 31st, 2018 at 10:48 AM ^
I'm the co-founder of one of these!
Although being VC backed is over-rated.
August 31st, 2018 at 11:46 AM ^
Congrats and agreed! I deal with a lot of companies at all stages (start up to Fortune 10), and I find it fascinating how much equity drives decision-making--often for the worse. Large companies will make counter-productive decisions to appease investors with 3- to 9-month windows. Smaller companies are subject to VC whims. Sometimes smaller, home-grown companies, even without the help of A-team management, will make the better decisions because they have greater freedom.
August 31st, 2018 at 12:15 PM ^
Hey me too, we should connect, are you in the Bay Area?
August 31st, 2018 at 11:28 AM ^
It would be interesting to dive into this data. I went to M undergrad and have my MBA from another university on this list. The same is the true for the rest of the founders on my team. If we had to choose our key affiliation we would all chose Michigan over our graduate institutions.
August 31st, 2018 at 2:59 PM ^
I have a minor league baseball offering ready for the Metro Wash DC area............does anyone know a VC interested in sports and entertainment?
August 31st, 2018 at 6:58 PM ^
I'm surprised that Stanford does not have a bigger lead over the other universities.
Also, is there any particular reason (aside from large # of students) that Cornell is in the top 10?
September 1st, 2018 at 11:20 AM ^
I worked for one of these UM graduate entrepreneur companies and it was the biggest shit show I've ever been apart of. They BS'd me about the state of the company, pissed through their funding, and generally had zero clue what they were doing.