Our paper investigates how the type of work experience gained from prior paid employment influences the path to entrepreneurship. We distinguish between two distinct entrepreneurship entry modes: business takeover and new venture start-up. Using a large and rich French data set, we find that...

Start-ups often post updates during equity crowdfunding campaigns. Yet, little is known about the effects of such updates on funding success. We investigate this question by using handcollected data from 71 funding campaigns on two German equity crowdfunding portals. Using a combination of...

This study analyzes the effects of the 2000-2001 dot-com crisis and the 2008-2009 financial crisis on venture capital syndication. Using propensity score matching analysis, we show that during the two crises, VCFs had a lower tendency to syndicate their investments, and the size of the...

A large number of family firms employ non-family managers. This paper analyzes the optimal compensation contracts of non-family managers employed by family firms using principal-agent analysis. The model shows that the contracts should have low incentive levels in terms of short-term performance...

Support of business start-ups is partially motivated by social policy objectives. The paper discusses these social policy objectives on a conceptual and empirical basis. Its focus is on start-ups out of unemployment. Implications for the design and the evaluation of socially motivated start-up...

Innovativeness of a start-up is regarded as a prerequisite to acquire venture capital. However, it is neither obvious how to conceptualize nor how to measure it. Even though start-up innovativeness is of high practical relevance, no empirical research on the topic exists. This article is a first...