BusinessWeek: The Anatomy of an Entrepreneur

By Nick Leiber

When Ken Rapp was 16 years old, his mom died of malignant melanoma. Her death made him wonder why, with all the advances in science, there was no cure for the disease. So 10 years ago, at the age of 37, Rapp used his 14 years working as an engineer and sales manager for laboratory automation and robotics maker Zymark (CALP), to start his own company to facilitate pharmaceutical breakthroughs. Today his Hopkinton, Mass.-based company, VelQuest, sells software and other products designed to streamline the recording process and increase the speed by which medicines go to market. Clients include Pfizer (PFE) and Eli Lilly (LLY). Rapp says the company’s 2008 revenue was up 50% from 2007.

But it was not just his heartfelt idea that played a role in his decision to pursue entrepreneurship, a new study released by the Kauffman Foundation on July 8 suggests: his family background also improved the odds. Indeed, the study, similar to another Kauffman report released in June, found that the makeup of entrepreneurs running high-growth companies goes against the stereotype of a young college dropout (think Bill Gates and Steve Jobs).

The study, titled “The Anatomy of an Entrepreneur,” led by co-authors Vivek Wadhwa, Raj Aggarwal, Krisztina “Z” Holly, and former BusinessWeek tech editor Alex Salkever is an attempt to get a feel for the background and motivation of American entrepreneurs, including their level of education, socioeconomic status, and work experience. The team set out to uncover what makes entrepreneurs across high-growth industries tick, surveying 549 successful business founders between August 2008 and March 2009. The study found they were 40 years old on average when they started their first companies. About 90% were well-educated and came from middle-class or upper-lower-class backgrounds. (more)