TOP NETWORKS
Alumni who went on to found BuildList companies
NETWORK CONCENTRATION
Share of each sector's links supplied by its top three networks
AI Research115 founder links
Concentrated61%
Top 3: Google · OpenAI · Meta31 sources
Public Services14 founder links
Moderate50%
Top 3: Palantir · Amazon · Uber10 sources
Construction & Housing12 founder links
Moderate50%
Top 3: Waymo · SpaceX · Atomic Industries9 sources
Compute & Semiconductors54 founder links
Moderate46%
Top 3: Google · AMD · Broadcom22 sources
Bio & Health41 founder links
Moderate41%
Top 3: Google · Meta · Neuralink20 sources
AI App114 founder links
Moderate41%
Top 3: Google · Meta · Palantir37 sources
Energy & Climate149 founder links
Moderate40%
Top 3: SpaceX · Tesla · Google54 sources
Agriculture18 founder links
Broad39%
Top 3: Google · Deloitte · Anduril Industries14 sources
Aerospace160 founder links
Broad38%
Top 3: SpaceX · Lockheed Martin · Blue Origin51 sources
Fintech24 founder links
Broad38%
Top 3: Goldman Sachs · Revolut · Bain & Company14 sources
Transportation44 founder links
Broad34%
Top 3: SpaceX · Boeing · Google23 sources
Manufacturing77 founder links
Broad34%
Top 3: SpaceX · Tesla · Amazon34 sources
Robotics72 founder links
Broad26%
Top 3: Google · Meta · Tesla40 sources
Defense123 founder links
Broad26%
Top 3: Palantir · SpaceX · Anduril Industries52 sources
Sectors with fewer than 10 observed links are excluded.
NETWORKS TO METROS
Where alumni-founded companies are headquartered.
| Alumni network | All metros | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 85 | 6 | 9 | 3 | – | 3 | 1 | – | 124 | |
| SpaceX | 17 | 66 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 6 | – | – | 106 |
| Meta | 31 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | – | 1 | 51 |
| Tesla | 27 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 4 | – | 48 |
| Palantir | 8 | 8 | 12 | 3 | – | – | 1 | 4 | 40 |
| Apple | 17 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | – | 27 |
| OpenAI | 25 | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 27 |
| Amazon | 11 | 2 | 3 | – | 2 | 1 | 2 | – | 26 |
| Anduril Industries | 6 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | – | 4 | 26 |
| Microsoft | 16 | 4 | 2 | – | – | 1 | 1 | – | 25 |
Cells show the top eight metros · all-metros totals include every location · 451 links shown
Counts represent observed, directed founder links from a former employer to a founded company. A founder can contribute to more than one network when their work history spans multiple qualifying organizations.