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

Abstract

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.