Supporting Entrepreneurs at the Local Level : The Effect of Accelerators and Mentors on Early-Stage Firms
We investigate the association between entrepreneurship support programs and the likelihood of receiving funding for early-stage firms. We use a novel database of 2,887 early-stage technology companies from nine local ecosystems in eight countries...
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| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2018
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/929481536299307313/Supporting-Entrepreneurs-at-the-Local-Level-the-Effect-of-Accelerators-and-Mentors-on-Early-Stage-Firms http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30384 |
| Summary: | We investigate the association between
entrepreneurship support programs and the likelihood of
receiving funding for early-stage firms. We use a novel
database of 2,887 early-stage technology companies from nine
local ecosystems in eight countries that includes data about
the founders’ demographic characteristics, educational
background, work experience, and entrepreneurial history; we
also use data about the start-ups’ history and evolution
that follow their progress through support programs and
early-stage funding. We isolate two support
interventions—acceleration and mentorship—that the
literature has found to have a larger effect on a firm’s
performance, and we test if such effect is supported from an
ecosystem perspective. After accounting for variations in
founder characteristics and business environment, we find a
positive association between acceleration and mentorship by
experienced founders and the likelihood of receiving
funding, whereas other support programs, such as incubation,
are negatively correlated with funding. We also find that
some founders’ characteristics, such as increased education
and experience, have a positive correlation with funding. |
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