Entrepreneurial team formation and its effect on subsequent entrepreneurial outcomes

企业家、投资者和政府早就认识到，无法有效地组织是创业失败的主要原因。然而，我们缺乏关于企业家在组建团队时应该使用哪种策略的系统证据。本项目将研究初始团队形成如何影响创业成果。团队形成在多大程度上决定了团队成员之间的专业化、协调和信任水平？这些过程会影响团队随时间改变方向的能力吗？与家人组成团队，还是与朋友或同事组成团队更好？最佳战略是否会随着环境变化而变化，比如不同的国家或行业？该项目的研究结果将为早期创业者提供实用的建议，帮助提高年轻公司的生存能力，从而促进我们社会的经济发展。该项目将档案研究与随机对照试验相结合，以评估团队组成的变化如何影响创业成果。第一项研究跟踪了以技术为基础的创业团队在一次著名创业竞赛中的多次迭代。在8个月的时间里，参赛队伍需要通过三轮比赛，从130支入选队伍到30支进入半决赛的队伍，再到12支进入决赛的队伍。决赛选手向风险投资家展示他们的创业项目。关于团队形成和人际关系动态的数据，以及人口统计属性，都是通过长期的多来源调查收集的。第二项研究是一项随机对照试验，通过操纵团队形成过程来确定创业团队形成与结果之间的因果关系。在一个由长达一学期的创业入门课程的多个部分组成的准实验环境中，学生们提出想法，组建团队，然后开始并经营实际的企业。团队的成功将根据实际利润和其他可衡量的里程碑来评估。该项目将告知该领域是否值得干预和促进团队形成过程，或者允许团队更有机地形成。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Entrepreneurs, investors, and governments have long recognized that an inability to organize effectively is a primary cause of entrepreneurial failure. However, we lack systematic evidence on the types of strategies entrepreneurs should use when forming their teams. This project will investigate how initial team formation affects entrepreneurial outcomes. To what extent does team formation determine the level of specialization, coordination, and trust between team members? Do these processes affect team ability to change direction over time? Is it better to form teams with family members, or with friends or co-workers? Does the best strategy change with context, such as different countries or industries? Findings from this project will provide practical advice to early stage entrepreneurs helping to increase the survival of young firms, thus promoting economic development in our society. The project pairs an archival study with a randomized control trial to evaluate how variations in team composition affect entrepreneurial outcomes. The first study follows technology-based startup teams in multiple iterations of a prestigious entrepreneurship contest. Over a period of eight months, teams seek to pass three competition rounds that weed the number of teams from 130 accepted teams to 30 semi-finalists to 12 finalists. The finalists present their ventures to venture capitalists. Data on team formation and interpersonal dynamics, along with demographic attributes, are collected through multi-source surveys over time. The second study, a randomized controlled trial, manipulates team formation processes to identify causal relationships between entrepreneurial team formation and outcomes. In a quasi-experimental setting comprised of multiple sections of an introductory semester-long entrepreneurship course, students pitch ideas, form teams and then start and run actual businesses. Team success will be evaluated in terms of actual profits and other measured milestones. This project will inform the field regarding whether it is worthwhile to intervene and facilitate team formation processes, or allow teams to form more organically.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.