Raising Founders: Farcaster Edition

As parents of two young kiddos (Henry-4, Heidi-2), we wanted to learn how successful founders grew up and if any common themes supported developing an entrepreneurial mindset.

We surveyed Farcasters about their childhood environment, education, entrepreneur role models, and which experiences most impacted their journey.

Here’s what we discovered…

Q1. Where Did You Grow Up?

Here is a breakdown of the environments Farcasters grew up in: suburbs, city, rural or a mixture.
Here is a breakdown of the environments Farcasters grew up in: suburbs, city, rural or a mixture.

Key takeaways:

  • 59.6% of Farcasters grew up in a suburban environment. City was identified as the second highest response at 19.2%, with rural not far behind at 17.3% of Farcasters.

  • The US population breakdown is about 55% Suburban, 31% City, and 14% rural. [1] This is different from the global breakdown, which reports about 44% of the population living in rural areas and 55% perfect in urban areas. [2,3]

  • Of the mixed category, the combination of city and suburban environments was the only combination mentioned (1.9% of the total). The remaining 1.9% was undisclosed.

[1] US Demograhic Stats [2] Global Demographic Stats [3] Global Demographic Stats

Q2. Where did you attend school?

Here is a breakdown of the type of schooling Farcasters reported: public, private, homeschool, or a mix.
Here is a breakdown of the type of schooling Farcasters reported: public, private, homeschool, or a mix.

Key Takeaways:

  • 58.8% of Farcasters attended public school. 23.5% attended private school, and the remaining 17.6% were public and private or homeschooled.

  • Of the mixed category, starting public and transferring to private school later was slightly higher than the other combinations (50% of mixed and 8.33% of total).

Q3. Who is your favorite entrepreneur role model for kids?

Key Takeaways:

  • The top role model was Steve Jobs, with 33.3% of respondents mentioning him. Elon Musk followed with 20.8%.

  • The third highest response was "No one," with 10.4%.

  • 6.3% of the names mentioned were females, including Jessica Livingston, Sheryl Sandberg, and Ada Lovelace.

Q4. What other childhood experiences had an impact on your entrepreneurial journey?

  • The most mentioned experience was a passion for learning new skills and building at a young age (27.3%), often starting with LEGOs or an early introduction to computers and technology.

  • Exposure to entrepreneurship, specifically within the family, as well as encouragement and support to explore areas of interest, was mentioned by 18.2% of respondents.

  • Starting small businesses at a young age was also mentioned by 18.2%.

Wrapping Up

Learning about the background of the Farcasters who participated was incredibly impactful. A big thank you to those who provided such thoughtful answers!

Wrapping up some of the biggest takeaways according to the results:

  • The majority of Farcasters grew up in suburban areas and attended public schools.

  • Steve Jobs was the top entrepreneurial role model for this group, and a big opportunity (IMO) is the lack of role models, given the third most common response was “no one.”

  • A passion for building and exposure to technology at a young age was the most common impactful experience on the journey to entrepreneurship for this group.

While this was a great start, much more is still to be learned about raising children with an entrepreneurial mindset. So I will continue to dig in further. Please let me know any questions you have!

Subscribe to Katie Hoffman
Receive the latest updates directly to your inbox.
Mint this entry as an NFT to add it to your collection.
Verification
This entry has been permanently stored onchain and signed by its creator.