Investors are obsessed with pedigree. Today, I made a list of where every founder I’ve invested in went to college. So, do the top schools produce better founders? Let’s find out…

To be consistent, I looked at where the Founder & CEO of each of my investments got their bachelor’s degree. Here’s what I found:

The List

None: 3
USC: 2
UNC: 2
Cal Poly – 1
U of Pittsburgh: 1
UCSD: 1
Georgia Tech: 1
Le Havre Normandy University: 1
American River College: 1
DePaul: 1
Florida State: 1
Baruch College: 1
University of Minnesota: 1
NYU: 1
Ivan Franko National University of Lviv: 1
Arizona State: 1
Carleton: 1
Universidad Tecnológica Nacional (Argentina): 1
UC Berkeley: 1
Syracuse: 1
U of Oregon: 1
BYU: 1
Northwestern: 1
Johns Hopkins: 1
Centenary University: 1
U of Waterloo: 1
Auburn: 1

Some Surprising Results

These results surprised me!

I didn’t think I’d see “None” leading the list. And who knew USC was such a hotbed of startups?

I’m also surprised to see that there’s not a single Ivy League, Stanford or MIT kid on the list (although several got graduate degrees from those schools). I guess they’re not the only game in town!

Better Schools, Better Founders?

So, do better schools produce better founders?

At least in my portfolio, the answer is no. Some of my most successful founders went to great schools like NYU, but I also have some founders who are struggling that went to top schools.

Overall, I don’t see any correlation between prestige of their college and success. In fact, one of the more successful fellows in my portfolio didn’t go to college at all!

Wrap-Up

As startups have gone mainstream, credentialism has become the rule. Sure you have a great product…but do you have Stanford, YC, or Google stamped on your butt?

If not, keep it moving.

I never invest this way. I look at performance, pure and simple. And in my sample of 31 companies, top schools aren’t producing better founders.

Do you look at where a founder went to college?

More on tech:

How Often Do Founders Actually Send Updates?

Small Investors Lead to Big Investors

How I Make Sure I’m Never Late to Meet a Founder

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