The good and the bad of Stanford’s massively successful startup scene

FILE PHOTO: Cyclists traverse the main quad on Stanford University's campus in Stanford, California, U.S. on May 9, 2014. REUTERS/Beck Diefenbach/File Photo

The chances that your startup will become a billion-dollar company are almost zero. But if you do somehow manage to create a unicorn, the odds are better than 1-in-10 that you or your co-founder attended one school: Stanford. 

It’s a remarkable statistic even considering its student population is overrun with go-getters – people ambitious enough to apply and smart enough to get in. More unicorn founders and top venture capitalists attended Stanford than any other US university, according to data compiled by Bloomberg and based on CB Insights’ lists of top venture capitalists and unicorn companies. And while Harvard has spawned more alumni with self-made fortunes of at least US$500mil (RM2.04bil), Stanford’s are 11 years younger on average.