A key requirement for the start of many entrepreneurial businesses is private equity or venture capital financing. In the traditional approach to entrepreneurial investment analysis, an entrepreneur starts a new venture and a venture capitalist finances the new venture when business return...

We compare investment in innovation (e.g., R&D) between new venture start-ups before commercialization and operating businesses after commercialization. Operating businesses use R&D to improve actual earnings while start-ups use R&D to improve prospective earnings. When a start-up entrepreneur...