The Role of the Entrepreneur's Human Capital in Korean Venture Industry

This study aims to examines the effects of an entrepreneur's human capital characteristics in early-stage firms in Korean venture industry. The data come from 260 firms which was gone public during 2000s in the Korean information technology (IT) industry. We consider age, schooling, and experiences as key human capital elements. Age is negatively related to founding in IT particularly, but positively influences the performance in the initial public offering (IPO). School prestige is positively associated with venture capital (VC) financing and IPO performance. The educational level has inverted-U shape with start-up in IT. Related industry experience is a very strong and consistent predictor in all stages of entrepreneurial process. The output functional background is positively associated with founding in IT industry and attracting VC investments. Finally, entrepreneurs with related industry experience are more likely to found in IT industry and then their ventures achieve better market capitalization in IPO process. This study is differentiated from previous studies examining whether a firm is created or not. We highlighted that the industry where entrepreneurs make start-ups and found that youth, related industry experience and output function background among human capitals of entrepreneurs are helpful for opportunity development in IT