Business School Networks and VC-backed Startups

38 Pages Posted: 2 Nov 2015 Last revised: 19 Mar 2016

See all articles by Ye Cai

Ye Cai

Santa Clara University - Leavey School of Business

Nickolay Gantchev

University of Warwick - Warwick Business School; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)

Merih Sevilir

Halle Institute for Economic Research; ESMT European School of Management and Technology

Date Written: March 18, 2016

Abstract

This paper is the first to study the role of business school education in the creation and success of venture capital (VC) backed startup firms. Using a large new dataset of the educational backgrounds of entrepreneurial founders and executives and detailed data on business school rankings, we find that (i) almost a quarter of VC-backed startups over 1990-2010 are launched by founders with formal business education and two-thirds of startups have an executive with a business school degree, (ii) VC-backed startups experience better exit outcomes when their executive teams include MBA graduates, and (iii) startups are significantly more likely to retain a founder with an MBA as a post-IPO CEO. Consistent with a networking mechanism, 29% of VC-backed startups have at least two executives from the same business school, and 13% of startups have at least one executive and one VC director from the same business school. Such startups with connected executives are significantly more likely to successfully exit through an IPO or an acquisition. Overall, our findings provide evidence on the role of business schools in promoting the formation of professional networks and the acquisition of skills important for launching a successful startup.

Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Venture capital, Startup firms, Business school networks, Management quality

JEL Classification: G24, G32, G34

Suggested Citation

Cai, Ye and Gantchev, Nickolay and Sevilir, Merih, Business School Networks and VC-backed Startups (March 18, 2016). Kelley School of Business Research Paper No. 15-79, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2684572 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2684572

Ye Cai

Santa Clara University - Leavey School of Business ( email )

500 El Camino Real
Santa Clara, CA California 95053
United States

Nickolay Gantchev (Contact Author)

University of Warwick - Warwick Business School ( email )

Coventry CV4 7AL
United Kingdom

HOME PAGE: http://www.NickolayGantchev.com

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) ( email )

London
United Kingdom

HOME PAGE: http://cepr.org

European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) ( email )

HOME PAGE: http://ecgi.global/users/nickolay-gantchev

Merih Sevilir

Halle Institute for Economic Research

P.O. Box 11 03 61
Kleine Maerkerstrasse 8
D-06017 Halle, 06108
Germany

ESMT European School of Management and Technology

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