What makes billionaires tick

DNA of tech moguls: many have one thing in common

Mark Zuckerberg is one of the best-known, but according to a new study by no means a representative tech billionaire.

(Bild: AFP)

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, tech mogul Elon Musk or Microsoft founder Bill Gates: many people have the image of the pale male computer nerd in mind when they think of "big tech" billionaires. A study from the USA shows that this is not the case. Based on the CVs and character traits of more than 2,000 founders of billion-dollar start-ups, it describes in detail what makes them tick, where they come from, what they want - and what unites many of them.

Of course, there is no such thing as THE Silicon Valley founder: the many technological marvels invented by innovative start-ups are driven by a wide variety of characters - sometimes choleric, as Tesla boss Elon Musk is said to be, sometimes perfectionist. But if you zoom out further, to the statistical level, patterns emerge. For example, that a striking number of founders of billion-dollar start-ups were "underdogs" before they became so rich. Or that half of them went to just ten different universities. Krone+ outlines the DNA of the Silicon Valley billionaires.