The tortoise, the hare, and the hybrid: effects of prior employment on the development of an entrepreneurial ecosystem

Abstract

Prior employment imprints nascent entrepreneurs with logics for organizing startups. Within a regional ecosystem, entrepreneurs with different employment backgrounds pursue alternative entrepreneurial pathways, each generating distinct, though complementary, regional impacts. By analyzing diverse pre-entrepreneurial employment experiences, no one pathway leads to superior firm performance; prior industry experience generates strong early performance that tapers off, while prior academic experience engenders slow, steady, long-lasting growth. Our approach is well-suited for theorizing ecosystem development and generating policy recommendations in support of ecosystem diversity.

Evolutionary entrepreneurial ecosystems: a research pathway

“…Instead of thinking of entrepreneur-led and government-led as two alternative options, scholars should investigate their interdependences and potential areas of convergence and examine how they impact on the long-term sustainability of an ecosystem. 4.4 Using methodology right: the need for longitudinal process studies of EE evolution Surprisingly, most entrepreneurial ecosystem studies lack a 'time' dimension (Adams, 2020;Donegan et al, 2019). Methodologically, most research to date consists of cross-sectional studies that are static, and thus miss out on crucial temporal change dynamics of entrepreneurial ecosystem evolutionary processes across time (Adams, 2020;Alvedalen & Boschma, 2017;Stam, 2015).…”

The Effect of University Missions on Entrepreneurial Initiative across Multiple Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: Evidence from Europe

“…They have recalled the attention of policymakers to the need for a strategy that stimulates economic prosperity [43]. While entrepreneurs are key players in developing entrepreneurship, the surrounding ecosystem's influence on their decisions becomes evident [45].…”

Academic Teams and Commercialization in the Life Sciences

“…Much less is known about the influence of prior employment on subsequent entrepreneurial choices regarding firm strategy, especially regarding size and growth trajectory-that is to say, whether an entrepreneurial founder seeks to support a large, fastgrowing operation or rather seeks to maintain a slow but steady pace of organizational growth and keep their entrepreneurial venture small and nimble. In Donegan et al (2019) we characterize these two trajectories by invoking the classic parable of the tortoise and the hare, where the fast-growing operation behaves as the hare and the steadier paced firms behave as the tortoise. Our title, "The tortoise, the hare, and the hybrid", however, acknowledges alternative hybrid pathways may operate as well that blend these two trajectories.…”

“…In Donegan et al (2019), we argue that entrepreneurs' prior employment experience will lead them to pursue certain entrepreneurial pathways in their local entrepreneurial ecosystem at the expense of other pathways. When multiple entrepreneurs work together to start a firm as a team, this pathways interact and further influence outcomes.…”

“…Firms associated with higher proportions of academic experience shows a higher survival rate and more success in raising public financing; big pharma firms are more likely to experience a merger or acquisition. Donegan et al (2019) suggest that understanding the former experience of local entrepreneurs can provide information useful to support and reinforce policy consequences. Compared to big pharma, entrepreneurial, or any combination of experience, we find that academic experience is positively related to receiving public startup funding and academic apprenticeship founded firms are more likely to survive.…”