Whether someone will start a business or not becomes clear long before the actual business idea comes along. Above all, the family background, the parents’ level of education and their professional career play a decisive role in the start-up process. This is shown by the results of a study by the start-up association and the Bertelsmann Foundation South German newspaper available in advance.
But which socio-economic factors specifically shape founders? To find out, the annual… German start-up monitor of the association supplemented with questions about social background. In addition to data from the Federal Statistical Office’s microcensus, the evaluation also included information on the parents’ school and academic training. Through their answers, the 1,800 respondents provided a first representative insight into the complex aspects of their social background.
Parents of founders are often academics
Around a quarter of all start-up founders have parents who themselves run a company with employees. The results are even clearer with regard to the training of parents. 60 percent of start-up founders have at least one parent with an academic degree. That is far more than the average for the population.
Carolin Kleinert is one of the participants in the study. In 2019 she founded the Berlin start-up Footprint Technologies. The software company offers foot measurement with AI support. Her father graduated from secondary school and later completed an apprenticeship as a lathe operator. Her mother is a doctor’s assistant. “I wasn’t aware that I was part of a minority in the start-up scene until I took part in the study,” says Kleinert. Even without an academic career, her father was always able to support her. He made it clear to her when he wasn’t enthusiastic about an idea.
Entrepreneurial parents are often role models
What influence do parents have on founders? What is certain is that parents’ entrepreneurial experience shapes young people on their way to self-employment. Entrepreneur parents often act as mentors, supporting their children both financially and emotionally. Experience and contact with other entrepreneurs can be particularly advantageous.
The start-up association’s survey shows that founders from civil servant and worker families have fewer contacts with other founders through their families than those from entrepreneurial families. Only 14 percent of founders with a working-class background said they had been in contact with other entrepreneurs through their family before starting their business. In contrast, around two thirds of founders have entrepreneurial parents.
As a working-class child, Carolin Kleinert also made her first contacts with other entrepreneurs not with the help of her parents, but in her job at Audi at the time . For them, entrepreneurship remained more of an abstract possibility than a realistic option for a long time. As the state spokesperson for the start-up association in Berlin, she is now committed to networking outside the scene.
Did she sometimes wish she had a woman as a role model? She quickly noticed that few women were active in the start-up scene, “but that strengthened rather than hindered my desire to start a business,” says the 32-year-old. Role models are particularly crucial for women and entrepreneurs who start a business while still studying. As several studies show, role models make the option of founding a start-up really tangible for young people.
What is striking is that the start-up founders surveyed are similar in their ambitions and goals, but their access to external capital differs significantly. The study reveals that only 46 percent of founders from working-class households raise external capital. For founders who come from entrepreneurial families, the figure is 63 percent. In addition to government funding opportunities, financing from business angels, i.e. individuals who participate in start-ups, plays a crucial role.
If there are no external investors, young companies can quickly go bankrupt. According to the Federal Statistical Office, around 17,800 companies in Germany filed for bankruptcy in 2023 alone.