# Raising Founders: Farcaster Edition

By [Katie Hoffman](https://paragraph.com/@katiehoffman) · 2023-01-19

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As parents of two young kiddos (Henry-4, Heidi-2), we wanted to learn how successful founders grew up and if any common themes supported developing an entrepreneurial mindset.

We [surveyed Farcasters](https://searchcaster.xyz/search?merkleRoot=0xeb72d433bd0f27159d9be97944d84652b07a83ebfc73ec51dde462aa2fe99454) about their childhood environment, education, entrepreneur role models, and which experiences most impacted their journey.

Here’s what we discovered…

Q1. Where Did You Grow Up?
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![Here is a breakdown of the environments Farcasters grew up in: suburbs, city, rural or a mixture.](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/b27240fcc588fcefd4006cb21f9ee18be2e0a78509ee7388f011ec8ca7a7880e.png)

Here is a breakdown of the environments Farcasters grew up in: suburbs, city, rural or a mixture.

**Key takeaways:**

*   59.6% of Farcasters grew up in a suburban environment. City was identified as the second highest response at 19.2%, with rural not far behind at 17.3% of Farcasters.
    
*   The US population breakdown is about 55% Suburban, 31% City, and 14% rural. \[1\] _This is different from the global breakdown, which reports about 44% of the population living in rural areas and 55% perfect in urban areas_. \[2,3\]
    
*   Of the mixed category, the combination of city and suburban environments was the only combination mentioned (1.9% of the total). The remaining 1.9% was undisclosed.
    

_\[1\]_ [_US Demograhic Stats_](https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/07/29/prior-to-covid-19-urban-core-counties-in-the-u-s-were-gaining-vitality-on-key-measures/) _\[2\]_ [_Global Demographic Stats_](https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.RUR.TOTL.ZS) _\[3\]_ [_Global Demographic Stats_](https://www.un.org/en/desa/68-world-population-projected-live-urban-areas-2050-says-un)

Q2. Where did you attend school?
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![Here is a breakdown of the type of schooling Farcasters reported: public, private, homeschool, or a mix.](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/e1b51bff8476ad6b0a481e241cb3364c39646eb71009669cae03a823b3632804.png)

Here is a breakdown of the type of schooling Farcasters reported: public, private, homeschool, or a mix.

**Key Takeaways:**

*   58.8% of Farcasters attended public school. 23.5% attended private school, and the remaining 17.6% were public and private or homeschooled.
    
*   Of the mixed category, starting public and transferring to private school later was slightly higher than the other combinations (50% of mixed and 8.33% of total).
    

Q3. Who is your favorite entrepreneur role model for kids?
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![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/85f7506ea7f7dcde1db91773e7963c1e88d3fc5c0b9f802b360f0560e2db2fcf.png)

**Key Takeaways:**

*   The top role model was Steve Jobs, with 33.3% of respondents mentioning him. Elon Musk followed with 20.8%.
    
*   The third highest response was "No one," with 10.4%.
    
*   6.3% of the names mentioned were females, including Jessica Livingston, Sheryl Sandberg, and Ada Lovelace.
    

Q4. What other childhood experiences had an impact on your entrepreneurial journey?
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*   The most mentioned experience was a passion for learning new skills and building at a young age (27.3%), often starting with LEGOs or an early introduction to computers and technology.
    
*   Exposure to entrepreneurship, specifically within the family, as well as encouragement and support to explore areas of interest, was mentioned by 18.2% of respondents.
    
*   Starting small businesses at a young age was also mentioned by 18.2%.
    

Wrapping Up
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Learning about the background of the Farcasters who participated was incredibly impactful. A big thank you to those who provided such thoughtful answers!

Wrapping up some of the biggest takeaways according to the results:

*   The majority of Farcasters grew up in suburban areas and attended public schools.
    
*   Steve Jobs was the top entrepreneurial role model for this group, and a big opportunity (IMO) is the lack of role models, given the third most common response was “no one.”
    
*   A passion for building and exposure to technology at a young age was the most common impactful experience on the journey to entrepreneurship for this group.
    

While this was a great start, much more is still to be learned about raising children with an entrepreneurial mindset. So I will continue to dig in further. Please let me know any questions you have!

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*Originally published on [Katie Hoffman](https://paragraph.com/@katiehoffman/raising-founders-farcaster-edition)*