Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • 2016
  • Working Paper

Do Network Dynamics Undermine Idea-based Network Advantages? Experimental Results from an Entrepreneurship Bootcamp

By: Rembrand Koning
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
ShareBar

Abstract

Do networks plentiful in ideas provide early stage startups with performance advantages? On the one hand, network positions that provide access to a multitude of ideas are thought to increase team performance. On the other hand, research on network formation argues that such positional advantages should be fleeting as entrepreneurs strategically compete over the most valuable network positions. To investigate these competing views, I embed a field experiment in a startup bootcamp to test if networks that are plentiful in ideas lead to sustainable network- based performance advantages. Leveraging data on each participant’s creative potential, I use peer randomizations and detailed data on network formation to show that ties to more creative individuals improve team performance. Despite the performance benefits of such connections, I find little evidence that entrepreneurs strategically connect to others who have greater creative potential. Instead, entrepreneurs seek feedback from others on dimensions that are more socially salient and verifiable. Beyond providing causal evidence for the durability of network-based performance advantages, these findings provide micro-level support to the importance of knowledge spillovers within bootcamps, accelerators, and startup ecosystems more generally.

Keywords

Networks; Performance; Business Startups; Business Strategy

Citation

Koning, Rembrand. "Do Network Dynamics Undermine Idea-based Network Advantages? Experimental Results from an Entrepreneurship Bootcamp." Working Paper, August 2016.
  • Read Now

About The Author

Rembrand M. Koning

Strategy
→More Publications

More from the Author

    • March 2022
    • Faculty Research

    Thinx, Inc.—Breaking Barriers in Feminine Care

    By: Rembrand Koning
    • March 2022
    • Faculty Research

    mPharma (A) and (B)

    By: Rembrand Koning and Namrata Arora
    • June 18, 2021
    • Science

    Who Do We Invent for? Patents by Women Focus More on Women's Health, but Few Women Get to Invent

    By: Rembrand Koning, Sampsa Samila and John-Paul Ferguson
More from the Author
  • Thinx, Inc.—Breaking Barriers in Feminine Care By: Rembrand Koning
  • mPharma (A) and (B) By: Rembrand Koning and Namrata Arora
  • Who Do We Invent for? Patents by Women Focus More on Women's Health, but Few Women Get to Invent By: Rembrand Koning, Sampsa Samila and John-Paul Ferguson
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College