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New research from Harvard Business School faculty on issues including entrepreneurship, new business ventures, and startup financing.
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IPO or M&A? How Venture Capital Shapes a Startup's Future

by Rachel Layne

To a cash-strapped founder, any funding seems like a win, but research by Rory McDonald and colleagues shows that much more is at stake when it comes to venture capital. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Whose Job Is It Anyway? Co-Ethnic Hiring in New US Ventures

by Sari Pekkala Kerr and William R. Kerr

The impact of immigration has been particularly sharp in entrepreneurship, yet there is remarkably little evidence about how immigration in the workplace connects to the creation and scaling of new firms. The economic consequences of greater workplace and entrepreneurial diversity deserve closer attention.

Biased Sampling of Early Users and the Direction of Startup Innovation

by Ruiqing Cao, Rembrand Koning, and Ramana Nanda

New ventures catering to female customers should be aware that the underrepresentation of women among early users on digital platforms can reduce the venture’s growth and chances of survival. As a result of gaining fewer early users, these ventures reduce future product development and are less likely to raise VC funding.

Flight to Safety: How Economic Downturns Affect Talent Flows to Startups

by Shai Benjamin Bernstein, Richard Townsend, and Ting Xu

The COVID-19 crisis makes it more difficult for small, young firms to attract talent as higher-quality candidates turn to more mature firms. Such “flight to safety” leads to a deterioration in the quality of human capital available for startups.

Fencing Off Silicon Valley: Cross-Border Venture Capital and Technology Spillovers

by Ufuk Akcigit, Sina T. Ates, Josh Lerner, Richard Townsend, and Yulia Zhestkova

This study of foreign corporate investment transactions from 32 countries between 1976 and 2015 finds these investments pose a trade-off: While they support young firms in pursuing innovations they could not otherwise afford, they also generate knowledge for the foreign investors.

Recessions Push Some Entrepreneurs to Launch Too Soon

by Sean Silverthorne

Research by Maria Roche looks at how past economic downturns forced job-insecure, high-tech entrepreneurs to rush their ventures to market. Will COVID-19 do the same? Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Two Case Studies on the Financing of Forest Conservation

by Andrew Baxter, Connor Cash, Josh Lerner, and Ratnika Prasad

Case studies about The Conservation Fund and Sonen Capital highlight three broad lessons about fresh approaches to the ownership and management of forestland.

The Evolution of CEO Compensation in Venture Capital-Backed Startups

by Michael Ewens, Ramana Nanda, and Christopher Stanton

Resolving uncertainty related to market demand—so called “product-market” fit—marks a key inflection point in the compensation contract for CEOs of venture-capital backed firms.

Open Source Software and Global Entrepreneurship

by Nataliya Langburd Wright, Frank Nagle, and Shane Greenstein

Does more activity in open source software development lead to increased entrepreneurial activity and, if so, how much, and in what direction? This study measures how participation on the GitHub open source platform affects the founding of new ventures globally.

Government Incentives for Entrepreneurship

by Josh Lerner

Even though many public policy efforts on entrepreneurship are well intentioned, the success rate has been disappointing. This essay explores these policies, focusing on financial incentives to entrepreneurs and the intermediaries who fund them.

Financial Distancing: How Venture Capital Follows the Economy Down and Curtails Innovation

by Sabrina T. Howell, Josh Lerner, Ramana Nanda, and Richard Townsend

Common wisdom holds that VC investment and VC-backed startups are relatively insulated from downturns. This study shows that the relative quantity and quality of innovation declines more for VC-backed firms than for other types of firms during downturns.

How Anchor Investors Help Impact Funds Succeed

by Sean Silverthorne

3Questions A startup fund's ability to attract a major first investor is a signal to others that the investment pool is just fine for entering. Shawn Cole and Rob Zochowski answer questions about anchor investors. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Coronavirus Careers: Cloud Kitchens Are Now Serving

by Lena Ye and Geoffrey Jones

Cloud kitchens are restaurants built around food delivery rather than sit-down service, and they are increasing in popularity as COVID-19 disrupts the industry, write Lena Ye and Geoffrey Jones. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Targeting High Ability Entrepreneurs Using Community Information: Mechanism Design in the Field

by Reshmaan Hussam, Natalia Rigol, and Benjamin N. Roth

Based on a field experiment involving 1,345 microentrepreneurs in India, this study provides insight into the depth and breadth of social knowledge contained in rural and peri-urban social networks. Harnessing community information directly from a microentrepreneur’s peers helps to identify high-growth microentrepreneurs and predict their returns to capital.

The Key to Powerful Social Change: Small Villages

by Dina Gerdeman

When institutions let us down, look for leadership outside of hierarchies, says Rosabeth Moss Kanter. These leaders "don’t wait to be asked; they just get moving." Open for comment; 0 Comments.

How Are Small Businesses Adjusting to COVID-19? Early Evidence From a Survey

by Alexander Bartik, Marianne Bertrand, Zoë B. Cullen, Edward L. Glaeser, Michael Luca, and Christopher Stanton

This survey of 5,819 small businesses in the United States shows that the pandemic has already caused massive dislocation among small businesses. Many businesses think they will not be able to survive if the crisis persists for the coming months. The immediacy of new funding will likely impact medium-term outcomes.

Contractual Restrictions and Debt Traps

by Ernest Liu and Benjamin N. Roth

Microfinance has failed to catalyze entrepreneurship in developing countries, despite abundant evidence of high return on investment opportunities. What can account for this? This study presents a theory in which firms that borrow from an informal lender may see their growth stalled and remain in the relationship indefinitely, even though they would have continued to grow in the absence of a lender.

How Small Businesses Can Survive the Coronavirus Outbreak

by Danielle Kost

COVID-19 will put many small businesses on life support. Karen G. Mills, who has been advising policymakers on aid options, offers guidance to owners on the brink of ruin. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Impact Investing: A Theory of Financing Social Entrepreneurship

by Benjamin N. Roth

The author provides a formal definition of organizational sustainability and characterizes the situations in which a social enterprise should be sustainable. The analysis then delineates when an investment in a social enterprise delivers superior impact to a grant.

Global Ocean Trust: Protecting the Blue Planet in New Ways

Re: Rosabeth M. Kanter

Following a successful career in finance, Torsten Thiele has devoted himself to the challenging cause of ocean conservation and stewardship. Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Thiele discuss strategy for solving one of the world's biggest problems. Open for comment; 0 Comments.