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Financial bootstrapping and social capital: how technology-based start-ups fund innovation

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  • David Smith

Abstract

Innovation requires more than technological expertise. It is a time consuming activity requiring access to a range of resources including finance. Yet, innovators involved in start-ups rarely have direct access to significant financial resources. Instead, they turn to a variety of forms of financial bootstrapping. Defined as access to resources not owned or controlled by the individual innovator, bootstrapping involves imaginative and parsimonious strategies for marshalling and gaining control of resources. This paper reports on research into bootstrapping using case studies, drawn from biographies of well-known innovators. The study found that bootstrapping was widespread and innovators showed great ingenuity in obtaining finance without recourse to conventional financial institutions. Not only were ranges of bootstrapping techniques employed, the study also provided valuable insights into the importance of social capital, in the form of networks of friends, colleagues and other contacts, in providing innovators with access to bootstrapping finance.

Suggested Citation

  • David Smith, 2009. "Financial bootstrapping and social capital: how technology-based start-ups fund innovation," International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 10(2), pages 199-209.
    • Handle: RePEc:ids:ijeima:v:10:y:2009:i:2:p:199-209
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    Cited by:

    1. Diana Hechavarría & Charles Matthews & Paul Reynolds, 2016. "Does start-up financing influence start-up speed? Evidence from the panel study of entrepreneurial dynamics," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 46(1), pages 137-167, January.
    2. Grichnik, Dietmar & Brinckmann, Jan & Singh, Luv & Manigart, Sophie, 2014. "Beyond environmental scarcity: Human and social capital as driving forces of bootstrapping activities," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 310-326.
    3. Lars Löfqvist, 2017. "Product Innovation In Small Companies: Managing Resource Scarcity Through Financial Bootstrapping," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 21(02), pages 1-27, February.
    4. Diana M. Hechavarría & Charles H. Matthews & Paul D. Reynolds, 2016. "Does start-up financing influence start-up speed? Evidence from the panel study of entrepreneurial dynamics," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 46(1), pages 137-167, January.

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