Tech Pique (19 August)

Immigrant Founders Outperform in the US

A new study by the National Foundation for American Policy has found that 55% of America’s unicorns (companies valued over $1bn that are private) are founded by at least one first generation immigrant.

If you include companies founded by 2nd generation immigrants, the percentage of unicorns founded by immigrants increases to 64%.

First generation immigrants account for around 12% of the US population and studies estimate they receive around 20% of US VC funding.

So why do immigrants outperform when it comes to starting and scaling tech businesses?

A quote from the a study in the UK resonates: “The act of migration itself shows both grit and a willingness to take risks. As outsiders, immigrants are less liable to fall prey to status quo bias and better able to spot opportunities for doing things differently.”

Further, founding a business takes significant resilience - the start-up journey is seldom linear. Resilience is a trait that can be learnt - a great article on this here - and immigrants have already built this muscle. The obstacles they face in building a business are not usually the first, or only current, obstacles they are facing. I’ve seen this first-hand, especially over the last 3 years during COVID-19. While many founders faced headwinds and had to learn, adapt and adjust their businesses, it was the tenaciousness of immigrant founders in particular that impressed me.

As such this is a founder persona that I’ll be focussing on more going forward.