Different Founders, Different Firms: A Comparative Analysis of Academic and Non-academic Startups

Maria P. Roche; Annamaria  Conti; Frank T. Rothaermel

Article | Research Policy | December 2020

Different Founders, Different Firms: A Comparative Analysis of Academic and Non-academic Startups

by Maria P. Roche, Annamaria Conti and Frank T. Rothaermel

Abstract

What role do differences in founders' occupational backgrounds play in new venture performance? Analyzing a novel dataset of 2,998 founders creating 1,723 innovative startups in biomedicine, we find that the likelihood and hazard of achieving a liquidity event are lower for academic than for non-academic startups. However, academic startups produce as many patents and receive as much funding as non-academic startups, suggesting that the observed differences in achieving a liquidity event are not driven by differential invention performance. Exploiting heterogeneity among academic startups, we also find that differences between professor and student startups do not explain academic startups' comparatively low performance on the exit market vis-à-vis nonacademic startups. Yet, startups founded by superstar professors perform similarly to non-academic startups on the exit market for new ventures, and better than startups founded by highly productive professors but without external certification.

Keywords: founders; innovation; occupational imprinting; academic startups; non-academic startups; founder heterogeneity; Business Startups; Innovation and Invention; Performance; Demographics; Analysis;

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Citation:

Roche, Maria P., Annamaria Conti, and Frank T. Rothaermel. "Different Founders, Different Firms: A Comparative Analysis of Academic and Non-academic Startups." Special Issue on Innovative Start-Ups and Policy Initiatives. Research Policy 49, no. 10 (December 2020).

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Different Founders, Different Firms: A Comparative Analysis of Academic and Non-academic Startups

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