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SUMMARY

NASCENT HIGH TECH ENTREPRENEURS: WHO ARE THEY AND HOW HAVE THEY DONE ONE YEAR LATER?

Kathleen R. Allen, University of Southern California, Los Angeles
Timothy M. Stearns, California State University, Fresno

Principal Topic

A prior paper by the authors based on data from the ERC longitudinal study of nascent entrepreneurs, focused on the nature and characteristics of high technology firms at the founding stage as compared to non-technology based firms. The study modeled gradations of technology from high, medium and low technology to no technology. The current study focuses on the longitudinal change from the original surveys and interviews (T0) to the one-year follow-up (T1). Based on a review of technology venture and entrepreneur demographics literature, we seek to answer three questions: 1) Are there commonalities in the demographics of high tech nascent entrepreneurs? 2) Are there differences in the start-up processes and behaviors of technology and non-technology entrepreneurs? 3) Are there differences between technology start-up ventures and their entrepreneurs and non-technology ventures and their entrepreneurs in their success and failure rates over a one-year period?

Method

This study analyzed data from the original ERC National Panel Study of U.S. Business Start-Ups sample of over 600 nascent entrepreneurs contacted by phone and mail, and the one-year follow-up sample from the same database. The two samples and the appropriate variables were matched to insure that the same respondents were evaluated from T0 to T1. The two samples were compared based on demographic variables, start-up behavior variables, and perceptual variables based on the responses of the nascent entrepreneurs from T0 to T1.

Results and Implications

Preliminary analysis suggests that entrepreneurs seeking to launch high tech firms remain mostly male with degrees based in the physical sciences. This is not much of a surprise based on considerable anecdotal evidence and prior research. However, high technology start-up ventures appear to be more research intensive than non technology startups thus slowing the effort to launch the new firm. It is not clear from the preliminary results at this stage if a difference exists between success and failures over a one year period. Continued analysis is likely to uncover more definitive evidence.

CONTACT: Kathleen Allen, University of Southern California; (T) 213-740-0659; (F) 213-740-2976; kallen@marshall.usc.edu