Dorina Thiess

With whom should entrepreneurs create their firms in order to enhance nascent venture performance? Conventional wisdom suggests that the stronger human capital and social relations in nascent venture teams are, the better the nascent venture’s performance. We draw from social embeddedness literature, however, and argue that the positive effect of team members’ human capital on three different dimensions of nascent venture performance is weaker when team members exhibit strong social relations. Our analysis of 488 nascent venture teams in the PSED II dataset confirms our predictions, showing that nascent ventures of teams with strong human capital but weaker social relations exhibit the best performance. The study thus offers valuable contributions particularly to literature on entrepreneurial teams the determinants of new venture performance.

Entrepreneurship research mainly focused on linear effects of human capital on venture performance, while recent publications have pointed towards non-linear effects. We investigate non-linear effects of both general and specific human capital on nascent venture performance. Based on data from PSED II, we study U-shaped relationships between general education, management, industry, and startup experience and nascent venture progress. We find that while general education, management experience, and startup experience have an inverse U-shaped relationship, industry experience has a U-shaped relationship with venture progress. Our findings have implications for theory and practice.

Entrepreneurship research mainly focused on linear effects of human capital on venture performance, while recent publications have pointed towards non-linear effects. We investigate non-linear effects of both general and specific human capital on nascent venture performance. Based on data from PSED II, we study U-shaped relationships between general education, management, industry, and startup experience and nascent venture progress. We find that while general education, management experience, and startup experience have an inverse U-shaped relationship, industry experience has a U-shaped relationship with venture progress. Our findings have implications for theory and practice.

This report analyses the 2014 course participants and their ventures in the CTI entrepreneurship courses module 3 (business creation) and module 4 (business develop-ment). Also, it looks at the perceived quality of the course and at the effects of course participation on the development of entrepreneurial competencies and of the new business. Further, it gives first insights into the long-term development of the ventures.