Learning from experience In the earliest days of the European tech ecosystem, the notion of fundraising and building billion-dollar tech companies were all relatively new, and often niche. Unsurprisingly, the average founding team composition in those days was also typically composed mostly of tech ‘newbies’. Over the decades that have followed, and as a growing number of early success stories emerged, the prevalence of founding teams with prior entrepre- neurial experience has spiked materially. Looking at billion-dollar companies started in the 1990s, for example, just 9% of the founders of those com- panies had prior entrepreneurial experience before they created these companies. By the 2010s, this 昀椀gure exploded by more than four times to hit 35%. Share (%) of $B+ companies with founding teams made up of at least one repeat founder, by $B+ company founding decade 40 30 s e i n a p m o c + B 20 $ f o ) % ( e r a h S 10 Notes: Data is as of 20 September 2023. Based on founders attributes and the date they indicated starting their 0 company. We are limiting the analysis to European 1990s 2000s 2010s founders and excluded “non-tech” companies as defined by Atomico’s proprietary classification model. Included only founders with previous Sources: experience in starting a company, not a foundation, venture capital firm, charity or similar. 183 | Talent