Samples

Of the 3500 founders, selected according to the inclusion criteria, 530 registered for the study, with 232 probands from 170 startups completing all online tests and surveys. All startups included in the sample are younger than 10 years and make use of innovative business models and advanced technologies and show significant growth in terms of company size. All the startups which took part in this study have one thing in common: they are young, innovative, and have a growth perspective.

In order to be able to derive informed conclusions about the startup founders’ characteristics, we compared them to a homogeneous control group of 172 corporate managers. Those corporate managers originate from various established Austrian companies with comparable characteristics regarding experience, education, age and gender.

Study group

232 entrepreneurs in the study

Gender: 34.1% female, 65.9% male
Age: average 36.2 years (range 23 – 65 years)
Highest level of education:

63.8% (148) Master’s degree/MBA,
13.8% (32) Bachelor’s degree
10.8% (25) University (Ph.D., Doctorate)

Startup location: 72.8% in Vienna
Startup industry: 41.8% IT/Software
Worked in similar industry before: 60.8% Yes, 39.2% No
Involved in any startup before: 45.6% Yes, 54.4% No

Control group

172 corporate managers
10 – 100 FTE teamsize

Gender: 38.4% female, 61.6% male
Age: Range 19 – 58 years, M=39.5
Highest level of education:

57.3% (82) – Master’s degree/MBA,
13.4% (23) – Bachelor’s degree
13.4% (23) – Highschool graduate
10.5% (15) – University (PhD, Doctorate)