Menlo Ventures partner Deedy Das used Harmonic data to study 8,525 U.S. startups founded between 2019 and 2026, comparing 63 founder-background traits to see which profiles were more likely to secure a lead investor from a top venture capital firm at the seed or Series A stage. The highest-ranked factor was prior experience at a top VC firm, which was associated with roughly 2.83x higher odds than otherwise similar peers. Experience at frontier AI labs and backgrounds in cybersecurity followed at 2.16x and 2.03x, respectively. The study also listed several other positive signals, including elite university backgrounds at 1.41x and former Google employees at 1.29x. Das noted that former VC employees in the dataset were not limited to investors, but also included entrepreneurs-in-residence, researchers, and interns, with some having incubated projects inside funds. On the negative side, the odds ratio was 0.65 for founders with MBAs, 0.59 for founders educated in China, and 0.57 when the oldest founder on the team was over 50.
According to ChainCatcher, Menlo Ventures partner Deedy Das used Harmonic data to analyze 8,525 U.S. startups founded between 2019 and 2026 and examined 63 founder-background traits to compare which profiles were more likely to secure a lead investor from a top venture capital firm at the seed or Series A stage.
The results showed that founders with prior experience at top VC firms ranked first, with about 2.83x the odds of winning a lead investor compared with otherwise similar peers. Founders who had worked at frontier AI labs and those with cybersecurity industry backgrounds posted odds ratios of 2.16x and 2.03x, respectively.
Other positive factors included elite university backgrounds at 1.41x and former Google employees at 1.29x. Das said former VC employees were not limited to investors, but also included entrepreneurs-in-residence, researchers, and interns. Some had incubated projects inside the funds.
The study also listed several negatively correlated factors. Founders with MBAs had an odds ratio of 0.65 for securing a lead from a top VC firm. The figure was 0.59 for founders educated in China, and 0.57 when the oldest founder on the team was over 50.
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