David S. Scharfstein
There are 2 articles for this faculty member.
About Faculty in this Article:
David S. Scharfstein is the Edmund Cogswell Converse Professor of Finance and Banking at Harvard Business School.
The Success of Persistent Entrepreneurs
| Q&A with: | Paul A. Gompers, Josh Lerner, and David S. Scharfstein |
|---|---|
| Published: | February 2, 2009 |
| Feature: | Research & Ideas |
Want to be a successful entrepreneur? Your best bet might be to partner with entrepreneurs who have a track record of success, suggests new research by Paul A. Gompers, Josh Lerner, David S. Scharfstein, and Anna Kovner.
Published in 2008
Performance Persistence in Entrepreneurship
| Authors: | Paul A. Gompers, Anna Kovner, Josh Lerner, and David S. Scharfstein |
|---|---|
| Published: | December 3, 2008 |
| Paper Release Date: | September 2008 |
| Feature: | Working Papers |
All else equal, a venture-capital-backed entrepreneur who starts a company that goes public has a 30 percent chance of succeeding in his or her next venture. First-time entrepreneurs, on the other hand, have only an 18 percent chance of succeeding, and entrepreneurs who previously failed have a 20 percent chance of succeeding. But why do these contrasts exist? Such performance persistence, as in the first example, is usually taken as evidence of skill. However, in the context of entrepreneurship, the belief that successful entrepreneurs are more skilled than unsuccessful ones can induce real performance persistence. In this way, success breeds success even if successful entrepreneurs were just lucky. Success breeds even more success if entrepreneurs have some skill.
