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
  • December 2020
  • Article
  • Research Policy

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

By: Maria P. Roche, Annamaria Conti and Frank T. Rothaermel
  • Format:Print
ShareBar

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

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).
  • Read Now

About The Author

Maria P. Roche

Strategy
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • December 2020
    • Review of Economics and Statistics

    Taking Innovation to the Streets: Micro-geography, Physical Structure and Innovation

    By: Maria P. Roche
    • 2020
    • Faculty Research

    Entrepreneurs (Co-) Working in Close Proximity: Impacts on Technology Adoption and Startup Performance Outcomes

    By: Maria P. Roche, Alexander Oettl and Christian Catalini
    • 2020
    • Faculty Research

    Scientific Production: An Exploration into Organization, Resource Allocation, and Funding

    By: Jerry Thursby, Marie Thursby, Karim R. Lakhani, Kyle R. Myers, Nina Cohodes, Sarah Bratt, Dennis Byrski, Hannah Cohoon and M. P. Roche
More from the Authors
  • Taking Innovation to the Streets: Micro-geography, Physical Structure and Innovation By: Maria P. Roche
  • Entrepreneurs (Co-) Working in Close Proximity: Impacts on Technology Adoption and Startup Performance Outcomes By: Maria P. Roche, Alexander Oettl and Christian Catalini
  • Scientific Production: An Exploration into Organization, Resource Allocation, and Funding By: Jerry Thursby, Marie Thursby, Karim R. Lakhani, Kyle R. Myers, Nina Cohodes, Sarah Bratt, Dennis Byrski, Hannah Cohoon and M. P. Roche
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