This research suggests that a Darwinian evolution of entrepreneurial spirit played a significant role in the process of economic development and the evolution of inequality within and across societies. The study argues that entrepreneurial spirit evolved nonmonotonically in the course of human...

This paper summarizes interviews from 1998 with 590 individuals trying to create a business centered around five questions: 'Who are you?', 'What are you trying to accomplish?', 'What have you and others put into the business?', 'What have you accomplished?', 'What remains to be done?' There is...

Based on 1182 dyads of German new ventures and venture capitalists involved in a financing round between 2002 and 2007, we examine the impact of spatial proximity on the likelihood of an investment. We find that with each triplication of journey time the relative likelihood of an investment...

In the course of raising external equity, e.g. from venture capitalists, a quantitative valuation is usually required for entrepreneurial ventures. This paper examines the challenges of quantitatively valuing platform technology based entrepreneurial ventures. The distinct characteristics of...

The paper analyzes internal factors which influence the use of equity - and mezzanine-based financing instruments in German privately held family firms. Based on a sample of 195 surveys of family firms, we investigate the impact of family specific goals and corporate governance structures on the...

Over the past ten years, private equity and venture capital have played an increasingly important role in the European economy. In parallel to the increase in investments, contribution of the private equity and venture capital industry to employment in Europe has grown. Against this background,...

The paper analyzes patterns in spatial proximity between venture capital investors and investees. We use a data set of 950 dyads of venture capitalists and German new ventures which have closed a financing round between January 2002 and March 2007. We are the first study to use minimum travel...

The resource-based view is suggested as a useful concept to shed light on the particular challenges of high potential companies on their way to building a thriving and growing company. In order to be able to apply the theoretical constructs of the resource-based view in the present context, a...

Im Sommer 2003 beschlossen die StartUp-Initiative und das Center for Entrepreneurial and Financial Studies (CEFS), gemeinsam eine wissenschaftliche Untersuchung durchzuführen, um Erkenntnisse über die aktuelle Entwicklung junger, innovativer Unternehmen in Deutschland zu gewinnen. Im...

This paper analyzes how social investors evaluate the integrity of social entrepreneurs. Based on an experiment with 40 professionals and 40 students, we investigate how five attributes of the entrepreneur contribute to the assessment of integrity. These attributes are the entrepreneur's...