Publications
Publications
- 2022
Failing Just Fine: Assessing Careers of Venture Capital-backed Entrepreneurs via a Non-wage Measure
By: Natee Amornsiripanitch, Paul Gompers, George Hu, Will Levinson and Vladimir Mukharlyamov
Abstract
This paper proposes a non-pecuniary measure of career achievement, Seniority. Based on a database of over 5 million resumes, this metric exploits the variation in job titles and how long they take to attain. When non-monetary factors influence career choice, inference benefits from the use of non-wage measures, such as seniority. We apply it to study labor market outcomes of VC-backed entrepreneurs. Would-be founders experience accelerated career trajectories prior to founding, significantly outperforming graduates of same-tier colleges with similar first jobs. After exiting their start-ups, they obtain jobs about three years more senior than their right-before-founding peers. Even failed founders land jobs with higher seniority than those attained by their peers in the meantime.
Keywords
Citation
Amornsiripanitch, Natee, Paul Gompers, George Hu, Will Levinson, and Vladimir Mukharlyamov. "Failing Just Fine: Assessing Careers of Venture Capital-backed Entrepreneurs via a Non-wage Measure." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 30179, June 2022.