This is actually an interesting question. I suspect it has to do with a combination of factors. For example: - Design alone won't get you very far in a servi

This is actually an interesting question. I suspect it has to do with a combination of factors. For example: - Design alone won't get you very far in a service business (unless the service is design, in which case you're competing in a crowded market), so you're eliminating a large amount of potential businesses off the bat - Design isn't often the foundation of a tech business, the technology is. It makes sense then that design is an additional function rather than a foundational role. What I mean here is that a designer can slap together slideware that looks nice, but a tech person can put together an MVP and a sales person can turn it into money - Unless something has changed, design doesn't really pay very well as a career unless you go the agency executive route. As a result, you're not going to have many designers floating around with "startup ramen" cash to burn in their 20s/30s in comparison to big-tech engineers - I suspect (but have absolutely no evidence) that there is a mindset difference between designers and founders with traditional backgrounds that plays a role, but I'm not sure what it is Of course, none of this is to say that designers can't be amazing founders (they absolutely can) or that design isn't important in the business world (it absolutely is), but rather that design doesn't really give you a boost in a modern business founding setting like other skill sets do.