As the Stanford Graduate School of Business Center for Entrepreneurial Studies (CES) enters its 30th year, this inaugural GSB Alumni Entrepreneurs 2025 Report provides a comprehensive analysis of entrepreneurial activity among GSB alumni. Drawing on data from the MBA and MSx classes of 1997–2021, the report examines the ventures founded during and after graduation, 5,594 in total, and explores the characteristics, funding outcomes, and global reach of these companies.
The findings highlight the enduring strength of the GSB’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and its impact across industries and regions. Key themes include:
- Founder rates and timing of venture creation across programs and cohorts
- Industry, geographic, and business model trends among alumni-founded companies
- Gender, education, and experience factors influencing venture formation and funding outcomes
- Patterns of venture-backed financing and long-term entrepreneurial activity
Together, these data offer a longitudinal view of how entrepreneurial intent cultivated at the GSB translates into venture creation, innovation, and impact around the world.
Introduction
Founded in 1996 through a visionary partnership between Stanford Graduate School of Business faculty Charles A. Holloway and H. Irving Grousbeck, the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies (CES) was established to deepen understanding of and enhance learning about the challenges facing entrepreneurs and the broader entrepreneurial ecosystem. In its founding year, CES had 14 affiliated faculty, wrote 15 cases, and offered 12 entrepreneurship courses. Said Grousbeck at the time, “We’re demystifying the old stereotype of the entrepreneur as a circus barker. We’re saying that this is a career track that lends itself to rational analysis.”
Over the following 29 years, the GSB has substantially broadened its research and curriculum to establish CES’s programmatic pillars, which prepare students to become effective and thoughtful entrepreneurial leaders. Today, the GSB offers 50 courses in entrepreneurship and innovation, taught by 19 world-class academic faculty partnered with 83 affiliated lecturers with deep experience in startups and venture investing. CES publishes 40-50 cases annually, keeping entrepreneurial learning relevant and current. CES provides engaging co-curricular learning opportunities and supports research on innovation, startups, venture funding, and entrepreneurial ecosystems. The GSB alumni community further enriches student learning by serving as mentors, advisors, case protagonists, and lecturers. This broad network of alumni entrepreneurs and venture investors fosters strong connections among students, faculty, and alumni.
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