What Germany's Unicorn founders studied

We looked at what Germany's unicorn founders studied – with surprising results.

What did Germany’s unicorn founders actually study?

We dug through all the founders of German unicorns – and looked at what they were up to at university.

No big surprise: economics, engineering, computer science and natural sciences are in the lead.

Humanities such as philosophy, history, or languages, on the other hand, seem to be less in demand. And if you think math and art are the secret startup booster, you're probably wrong: Hardly anyone with these subjects has made it to Unicorn.

Unsurprisingly, fields of study such as economics, engineering, and computer science are at the forefront of German startup founders' careers. The situation is different in the US, however: Some of the most well-known founders there come at least partly from the so-called "liberal arts" disciplines.

Prominent examples include Peter Thiel, who studied philosophy and law, and Alex Karp, who also studied law and also earned a PhD in philosophy.

But our analysis also revealed a few interesting outliers: The Trade Republic founder not only holds a bachelor's degree in business administration, but also a degree in philosophy.

And some founders never completed their studies – or never even started: Peter Chaljawski, for example, successfully built Berlin Brands Group without a university degree.

• Philipp Schröder (Law, Renewable Energy Management)
• Micha Grueber (Political Science, Philosophy, Business Mathematics)
• Philip Liesenfeld (Economics)
• Jannik Schall (Communication and Political Science)

• Zhaopeng Chen (Mechanical Engineering, Mechatronics)
• Peter Meusel (Automation Technology)

• Peter Chaljawski (No studies)

• Bastian Nominacher (Business Informatics, Finance, Management)
• Alexander Rinke (Mathematics)
• Martin Klenk (Computer Science)

• Daniel Khachab (International Business)
• Julian Hammer (NA)
• Rogério da Silva Yokomizo (Business Informatics)

• Denis Werner (Business Administration)
• René Welches (Computer Science)
• Dirk Hörig (Computer Science)

• Sascha Konietzke (Business Informatics)
• Paolo Negri (Industrial Engineering)

• Jaroslaw Kutylowski (Computer Science)

• Florian Sauter (Electrical and Information Engineering)
• Philipp Roesch-Schlanderer (Business Administration)

• Mario Kohle (Business Administration)
• Viktor Wingert (Business Administration)
• Jochen Ziervogel (Business Administration)

• Jochen Engert (Business Administration)
• André Schwämmlein (Industrial Engineering)
• Daniel Krauss (Business Informatics, Economics, Organizational and Human Resources Development)

• Michael Wax (Mechanical Engineering)
• Erik Muttersbach (Computer Science)
• Ferry Heilemann (Business Administration)

• Johannes Reck (Biochemistry)
• Tao Tao (Physics, Economics)
• Martin Sieber (Molecular Biotechnology)
• Tobias Rein (Electrical Engineering and Information Technology)

• Gundbert Scherf (Economics, Political Economy, International Relations)
• Torsten Reil (Biological Science, Evolutionary and Adaptive Systems)
• Niklas Köhler (Physics)

• Max Tayenthal (Law, Economics)
• Valentin Stalf (Business Administration)

• Naren Shaam (Mechanical Engineering, Business Administration)

• Malte Kosub (Business Administration, Economics, Computer Science)
• Stefan Ostwald (Electrical Engineering and Information Technology)

• Hanno Renner (Industrial Engineering, Business Administration)
• Ignaz Forstmeier (Technology and Management)
• Roman Schumacher (Engineering)
• Arseniy Vershinin (computer science)

• Florian Seibel (Aerospace Engineering)

• Tushar Ahluwalia (Business Administration)
• Shrestha Chowdhury (Computer Science)
• Oliver Dlugosch (Physics, Economics)
• Christoph Felix Gamon (Management)

• Erik Podzuweit (Business Administration)
• Florian Prucker (Technology and Management)
• Stefan Mittnik (Industrial Engineering, Economics, Economics Applied Math)

• Julius Köhler (Business Administration)
• Nicolaus Schefenacker (Economics)
• David Nothacker (Management)

• Frank Wolf (Industrial Engineering)
• Lutz Gerlach (Business Administration)
• Martin Böhringer (Business Informatics)

• Mathis Büchi Ginzbourg (International Business)
• Lino Teuteberg (interface design)

• Thomas Pischke (Physics)
• Marco Cancellieri (Media Informatics)
• Christian Hecker (Business Administration, Philosophy)

• Josef Fleischmann (Mechanical Engineering)
• Markus Brandl (Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace)
• Daniel Metzler (Aerospace)