- University of Utah sits atop “Universities with Highest Likelihood of Unicorns” study.
- Unicorn study touting Utah’s flagship university was led by a noted Stanford business professor.
- The school’s Lassonde Entrepreneurship Institute is a campus hub for business creation.
Want to win a Heisman Trophy? Then it’s wise to enroll at the University of Southern California.
The historic odds of claiming college football’s most prestigious individual honor are highest for, say, an elite tailback or quarterback wearing Trojan Cardinal and gold.
The University of Utah has yet to boast a Heisman winner.
But according to a Stanford business professor, Utah’s flagship public university enjoys the best odds of transforming college student-entrepreneurs into wealthy “unicorn” founders.
Professor Ilya Strebulaev and his team have determined that University of Utah graduates are about 2.3 times as likely to build a unicorn as the average founder.
Unicorns, of course, are mythical equine creatures with spiraled horns sprouting from their foreheads. But in the world of venture capital, finance and entrepreneurship, unicorns are very real. Coined a little over a decade ago by venture capitalist, or VC, Aileen Lee, the term “unicorns” is awarded to privately owned startup companies valued at $1 billion or more.
Strebulaev released a study this month revealing that the University of Utah offers its would-be unicorn founders the best odds of graduates from an American university of hitting the fabled $1 billion mark.
To be sure, the University of Utah has not produced the most unicorn founders among American universities. That’s an honor reportedly claimed by Stanford and MIT. But graduating from the University of Utah gives entrepreneurs the best odds among colleges of founding a unicorn, according to Strebulaev.
“A degree from Utah raises one’s odds of building a unicorn by 131% (given that the person founds a VC-backed company). That is the highest of any US school in our data,” Strebulaev posted on LinkedIn.
The other schools on Strebulaev’s “Universities with Highest Likelihood of Unicorns” top-10 list include the University of California, San Francisco, 78%; Yale, 68%; MIT, 65%; Stony Brook, 62%; Lehigh, 62%; Stanford, 50%; Georgia, 48%; Tufts, 48%; and University of California, San Diego, 41%.
Brigham Young University is listed just outside the “likelihood of unicorns” top-10 list, coming in at No. 11 with 40%.
“This recognition reflects what sets the University of Utah apart: we are a place where world-class research becomes real companies,” said University of Utah President Taylor Randall in a school release.
“Our students and faculty don’t just study big ideas — they build them, and a University of Utah degree gives our graduates one of the strongest chances in the country to launch a company that lasts.
“We are proud of this distinction and focused on expanding the opportunities behind it.”
So what does the study’s ‘unicorn’ odds ratio measure?
To determine the university/unicorn rankings, Strebulaev and his team looked only at schools with at least 10 unicorn founders. Then they were ranked by an “odds ratio.”
“We identified the U.S. universities attended by 4,366 unicorn founders and 3,526 randomly selected founders, matched only by year of first VC round,” wrote Strebulaev. “The odds ratio is the share of unicorn founders from a school divided by the share in the matched random sample.”
The odds ratio, added Strebulaev, adjusts for the fact that universities such as Stanford, MIT or Yale produce more VC-backed founders overall.
“A high raw count and a high odds ratio are different things — and the schools that lead on one rarely lead on the other.”
The University of Utah is not on the count-based “unicorn” top-10 list, noted Strebulaev, who is the founder and director of the Venture Capital Initiative — a research effort focused on venture capital and innovation.
Great companies start with great founders, said Kurt Dirks, dean of the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business, in a school release.
“And helping students become those founders is at the heart of what we do at the University of Utah. Through entrepreneurship programs across campus, students can launch a new venture or accelerate their current company.
“This is part of our goal to fuel Utah’s economy.”
Building business builders at Lassonde
The Lassonde Entrepreneurship Institute is ground zero for the University of Utah’s entrepreneurship efforts.
Launched in 2001 through the vision and support of Utah business school alumnus Pierre Lassonde, the school’s vast entrepreneur institute is a sprawling campus hub of student collaboration and innovation.
Thousands of University of Utah students — including business majors along with students from any other college degree program — have taken their maiden steps across the often bumpy world of entrepreneurship while at Lassonde.
Lassonde is also home to hundreds of University of Utah students living in the institute’s residential space — while collaborating with fellow startup-minded students and mentors.
In an interview with the Deseret News, Lassonde Executive Director Scott Holley said he was thrilled with the recent “unicorn likelihood” recognition. “There are a number of things that are highlighted by way of this research that points not only to the success that we have — but also for the opportunities going forward.”
The unicorn ranking, he added, is a “quality signal” rather than a “volume signal.”
“When you look at our strength, it’s in research-driven deep-tech and life science. ... We’ve got deep-tech companies that are heavily pre-vetted by research grants and IP before the venture capital ever arrives.”
A University of Utah graduate, Holley salutes the broad unicorn-producing ecosystem found across the University of Utah, BYU, Utah’s Silicon Slopes and the Governor’s Office of Economic Development.
Meanwhile, University of Utah alums such as JetBlue founder David Neeleman, Netscape’s Jim Clark and Recursion’s Chris Gibson are counted among the school’s most celebrated entrepreneurs, adding to the school’s startup bona fides.
And just like USC’s gridiron reputation makes it a magnet for top young football players, Holley said Utah’s “unicorn rep” makes it a destination for aspiring entrepreneurs.
“I think that we’re doing an incredible job of recruiting among the best of the best — not just at the research level, but also among younger founders,” he said.
On Friday, for example, the university wrapped up its Lassonde Startup Academy, a two-week program for high school students where business-minded teens reside at the Lassonde Studios while participating in entrepreneurship workshops, mentor sessions and pitch events.
“We’re trying to establish a place where individuals are not dropping out to build their unicorns — but a place where they drop in,” said Holley.
“You don’t have to choose between doing your coursework and having a part-time job and working on your business. Here at the University of Utah, you get to do all of those things.”
The school’s Master of Business Creation, for example, allows founders to engage in their startups while earning their graduate degrees, said Holley.
“By doing that, we attract the type of high-agency founders that want to be getting a world-class education while also working on building something real.”
Fostering University of Utah’s future unicorns
Even while relishing recent unicorn accolades, business education leaders at the University of Utah are mapping where the school goes from here in the nation’s startup community.
“It’s about showing up every single day and operating and executing,” said Holley.
“We believe in the transformational effects of entrepreneurship — whether that’s someone who creates a unicorn or whether it’s someone who creates a food stand or a local business or someone who just becomes an employee with an entrepreneurial mindset.”