4 factors that predict startup success and one that doesn’t

What makes a venture capital investment successful? A study published last year by the VC firm First Round Capital surveyed more than 300 U.S. companies and nearly 600 founders. The study found several correlates with success — some reassuring, some surprising.

— Female-founded startups outperformed all-male teams. In fact, companies with a female founder performed 63% better than those with all-male founding teams. Simply stated, women are great technology entrepreneurs, and more of them need to be funded.

— Younger founding teams outperformed older ones. The average age of an entrepreneur is approximately 40, and there is reason to think that entrepreneurs improve with age. But what about Facebook, Apple, Google and Microsoft? The average founder age for those companies was approximately 23. A good argument can be made that technology favors the young. And First Round’s investment portfolio gives credence to this argument. Founding teams with an average age of under 25 (when First Round invested) performed nearly 30% better than the average investment.

— Founders from top schools performed better. A diploma from an elite school makes a difference. In First Round’s portfolio, 38% of the companies had one founder who attended an Ivy League school, Stanford University or the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and those companies performed about 220% better than others.

— Experience at top tech companies predicts success as a founder. Before jumping into the startup fray, new graduates should consider a stint at a marquee technology firm. First Round found that

teams with at least one founder coming from Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft or Twitter performed 160% better than other companies.

— Not all top startups come from Silicon Valley. First Round companies that started outside New York City and the San Francisco Bay Area performed just as well as those founded in traditional new-venture hubs — good news for all the younger startup hubs across the U.S., from Austin, Texas, to Raleigh, North Carolina.

(Tucker J. Marion is an associate professor at Northeastern University.)