Latest from the Boston-is-better-than-you beat: Our entrepreneurs have the ideal startup temperament. And get this — they’ll even agree with you on some things.
This is according to a recent data release by the Founder Institute, a Palo Alto-based startup accelerator that reopened its Boston location last year. Using their “Entrepreneurial DNA Predictive Admissions Test,” the company surveyed over 100 of Boston’s early-stage entrepreneurs.
I spoke to Rachel Sheppard, the global marketing manager at Founder Institute, gave me some insight onto what "entrepreneur DNA" really looks like.
She said they ask entrepreneurs interested in joining their 14-week accelerator program to take a survey, answering questions that determine their openness, agreeability and work ethic — qualities Founder Institute has found to be good indicators of success. The predictive admissions test has been used for generations of Founder Institute classes.
“People wonder if their test scores are predictive of their success as an entrepreneur, and in most cases, looking back, the answer was absolutely yes," Rachel said.
The recent results of the 2017 applicants show that Boston’s attitude is less Masshole-y than it’s portrayed to be.
“We looked at some of the other major markets in the U.S., and it showed that here in Boston, the traits are not only on par but often better than other cities,” Rachel said.
Some of the big takeaways:
We get the perfect balance between strictness and acceptance: Boston ranks above Chicago, Seattle, Silicon Valley and San Francisco in terms of agreeability.
We work hard and stand out, even amongst competitors: Boston’s the hardest working tech city on the East Coast.
We’re pretty conscious and responsible: Boston ranks above New York and Los Angeles in terms of conscientiousness.
I caught up with Eric Asquith, the co-founder of Residential Way and a recent graduate from Founder Institute, to hear his take on these statistics.
He mentioned that Boston’s reputation for being cold and standoffish doesn’t necessarily match the survey results. However, he has found the startup scene to be “full of extremely considerate, warm, collegial people.”
While he was partially surprised with the agreeability statistic, Asquith agreed with the conscientiousness ranking.
“Boston as a city is a very hard-working city. Most entrepreneurs that I know started their company while they were working another full-time job,” he said. “What does that mean? Basically working two full-time jobs at the same time. It may be a result of the excellent entrepreneurial environment in Boston. Between world-class education and a thriving, and growing, startup ecosystem in Boston and Cambridge, Boston entrepreneurs have the resources available to make the leap to the next big thing.”
