Abstract
A spin-out happens when an employee quits a company to start a new venture; however, theories do not agree on whether the ‘spin-out entrepreneur’ will start the company in the same or in a different industry. We investigated a sample of 250 entrepreneurs and 120 spin-out companies to understand what led an entrepreneur or a group of founders to enter a new industry. Our results contribute to theory, suggesting that spin-out entrepreneurs usually move to different and innovative industries owing to recombination of knowledge in founding teams. Our evidence supports the positive effect of different experiences within the team.
Subject
General Economics, Econometrics and Finance,Sociology and Political Science,Development
Reference134 articles.
1. Steve Wozniak on Apple, the Computer Revolution, and Working with Steve Jobs. Bloomberg Businessweek. 4 December 2014www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-12-04/apple-steve-wozniak-on-the-early-years-with-steve-jobs
2. Apple Confidential 2.0: The Definitive History of the World’s Most Colorful Company;Linzmayer,2004
3. A Garage and an Idea: What More Does an Entrepreneur Need?
4. Institutional Entrepreneurship as Embedded Agency: An Introduction to the Special Issue
5. Falling Not Far from the Tree: Entrepreneurs and Organizational Heritage