IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cep/cepdps/dp2054.html

New venture creation: Innovativeness, speed-to-breakeven and revenue tradeoffs

Author

Listed:
  • Saul Estrin
  • Andrea Herrmann
  • Moren Levesque
  • Tomasz Mickiewicz
  • Mark Sanders

Abstract

We present a Schumpeterian growth model with new venture creation, under uncertainty, which explains the tradeoff between speed-to-breakeven, revenue-at-breakeven and relates this to the level of innovation. We then explore the tradeoffs between these outcomes empirically in a unique sample of 331 information and communication technology (ICT) ventures using a multi-input, multi-output stochastic frontier model. We estimate the contribution of financial capital and labor input to the outcomes and the tradeoffs between them, as well as address heterogeneity across ventures. We find that more innovative (and therefore more uncertain) ventures have lower speed-to-breakeven and/or lower revenue-at-breakeven. Moreover, for all innovativeness levels, new ventures face a tradeoff between speed-to-breakeven and revenue-at-breakeven. Our results suggest that it is the availability of proprietary resources (founder equity and labor) that helps ventures overcome bottlenecks in the innovation process, and we propose a line of research to explain the (large) unexplained variation in venture creation efficiency. Plain English Summary. This study examines how new businesses deal with uncertainty, focusing on the tradeoff between how quickly they become profitable (speed-to-breakeven) and how much revenue they generate when they do. We analyze data from 331 ICT ventures to understand these tradeoffs better, considering factors like financial resources and labor inputs. We find that more innovative ventures, which tend to be more uncertain, often take longer to reach profitability and may earn less when they do. Moreover, regardless of their level of innovation, all new ventures face a tradeoff between speed-to-breakeven and revenue. The study highlights that unique resources, such as founder equity and founder labor, help businesses overcome challenges in the innovation process. It also suggests further research to understand why some ventures are more efficient than others in the early stage of creating new businesses.

Suggested Citation

  • Saul Estrin & Andrea Herrmann & Moren Levesque & Tomasz Mickiewicz & Mark Sanders, 2024. "New venture creation: Innovativeness, speed-to-breakeven and revenue tradeoffs," CEP Discussion Papers dp2054, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    • Handle: RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp2054
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/dp2054.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Magnus Henrekson & Dan Johansson & Johan Karlsson, 2024. "To Be or Not to Be: The Entrepreneur in Neo-Schumpeterian Growth Theory," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 48(1), pages 104-140, January.
    2. Per Davidsson & Scott Gordon, 2012. "Panel studies of new venture creation: a methods-focused review and suggestions for future research," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 39(4), pages 853-876, November.
    3. Crepon, B. & Duguet, E. & Mairesse, J., 1998. "Research Investment, Innovation and Productivity: An Econometric Analysis at the Firm Level," Papiers d'Economie Mathématique et Applications 98.15, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1).
    4. Boyan Jovanovic, 2019. "The entrepreneurship premium," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 53(3), pages 555-568, October.
    5. Mahka Moeen, 2017. "Entry into Nascent Industries: Disentangling a Firm's Capability Portfolio at the Time of Investment Versus Market Entry," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(10), pages 1986-2004, October.
    6. Evans, David S & Jovanovic, Boyan, 1989. "An Estimated Model of Entrepreneurial Choice under Liquidity Constraints," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(4), pages 808-827, August.
    7. Jeroen de Jong & Orietta Marsili, 2015. "The distribution of Schumpeterian and Kirznerian opportunities," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 44(1), pages 19-35, January.
    8. Israel M. Kirzner, 1997. "Entrepreneurial Discovery and the Competitive Market Process: An Austrian Approach," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 35(1), pages 60-85, March.
    9. Ross Levine & Yona Rubinstein, 2017. "Smart and Illicit: Who Becomes an Entrepreneur and Do They Earn More?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 132(2), pages 963-1018.
    10. Dai, Li & Maksimov, Vladislav & Gilbert, Brett Anitra & Fernhaber, Stephanie A., 2014. "Entrepreneurial orientation and international scope: The differential roles of innovativeness, proactiveness, and risk-taking," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 511-524.
    11. Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), 2014. "Handbook of Economic Growth," Handbook of Economic Growth, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 2, number 2.
    12. Marco Gelderen & Roy Thurik & Niels Bosma, 2006. "Success and Risk Factors in the Pre-Startup Phase," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 26(4), pages 319-335, May.
    13. Matthews, Russell S. & Chalmers, Dominic M. & Fraser, Simon S., 2018. "The intersection of entrepreneurship and selling: An interdisciplinary review, framework, and future research agenda," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 691-719.
    14. Aghion, Philippe & Howitt, Peter, 1992. "A Model of Growth through Creative Destruction," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 60(2), pages 323-351, March.
    15. Andrea M. Herrmann & Friedemann Polzin & Lukas Held & Dimo Dimov, 2024. "Follow the money: funding acquisition processes of nascent ventures," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(3-4), pages 341-365, March.
    16. Bo Carlsson & Pontus Braunerhjelm & Maureen McKelvey & Christer Olofsson & Lars Persson & Håkan Ylinenpää, 2013. "The evolving domain of entrepreneurship research," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 41(4), pages 913-930, December.
    17. Jose Plehn-Dujowich, 2010. "A theory of serial entrepreneurship," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 35(4), pages 377-398, November.
    18. Mikael Samuelsson & Per Davidsson, 2009. "Does venture opportunity variation matter? Investigating systematic process differences between innovative and imitative new ventures," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 33(2), pages 229-255, August.
    19. Bruno Crepon & Emmanuel Duguet & Jacques Mairesse, 1998. "Research, Innovation And Productivity: An Econometric Analysis At The Firm Level," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(2), pages 115-158.
    20. Rotger, Gabriel Pons & Gørtz, Mette & Storey, David J., 2012. "Assessing the effectiveness of guided preparation for new venture creation and performance: Theory and practice," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 506-521.
    21. Lukas Held & Andrea M. Herrmann & Allard Mossel, 2018. "Team formation processes in new ventures," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 51(2), pages 441-464, August.
    22. Ge, Jianhua & Li, Joanna Mingxuan & Zhao, Eric Yanfei & Yang, Fan, 2022. "Rags to riches? Entrepreneurs' social classes, resourceful time allocation, and venture performance," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 37(5).
    23. Mahka Moeen & Rajshree Agarwal & Sonali K. Shah, 2020. "Building Industries by Building Knowledge: Uncertainty Reduction over Industry Milestones," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 5(3), pages 218-244, September.
    24. Chih-Hai Yang & Ku-Hsieh Chen, 2009. "Are small firms less efficient?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 32(4), pages 375-395, April.
    25. Niklas Elert & Magnus Henrekson & Mark Sanders, 2019. "Labor Markets and Social Security in the Entrepreneurial Society," International Studies in Entrepreneurship, in: The Entrepreneurial Society, chapter 5, pages 73-86, Springer.
    26. Mustafa U. Karakaplan, 2017. "Fitting endogenous stochastic frontier models in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LLC, vol. 17(1), pages 39-55, March.
    27. Rouven E. Haschka & Helmut Herwartz, 2022. "Endogeneity in pharmaceutical knowledge generation: An instrument‐free copula approach for Poisson frontier models," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 942-960, November.
    28. Per Davidsson & Jan Henrik Gruenhagen, 2021. "Fulfilling the Process Promise: A Review and Agenda for New Venture Creation Process Research," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 45(5), pages 1083-1118, September.
    29. Marcela Miozzo & Lori DiVito, 2020. "Productive opportunities, uncertainty, and science-based firm emergence," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 54(2), pages 539-560, February.
    30. Mustafa U. Karakaplan & Levent Kutlu, 2017. "Handling Endogeneity in Stochastic Frontier Analysis," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 37(2), pages 889-901.
    31. Jeffery S. McMullen & Dimo Dimov, 2013. "Time and the Entrepreneurial Journey: The Problems and Promise of Studying Entrepreneurship as a Process," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(8), pages 1481-1512, December.
    32. Kumbhakar,Subal C. & Wang,Hung-Jen & Horncastle,Alan P., 2015. "A Practitioner's Guide to Stochastic Frontier Analysis Using Stata," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107029514, Enero-Abr.
    33. Minniti, Maria & Lévesque, Moren, 2008. "Recent developments in the economics of entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 23(6), pages 603-612, November.
    34. Léopold Simar, 2003. "Detecting Outliers in Frontier Models: A Simple Approach," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 391-424, November.
    35. Robert E. Lucas Jr., 1978. "On the Size Distribution of Business Firms," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 9(2), pages 508-523, Autumn.
    36. David B. Audretsch & Erik E. Lehmann, 2022. "The knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship," Chapters, in: Cristiano Antonelli (ed.), Elgar Encyclopedia on the Economics of Knowledge and Innovation, chapter 39, pages 317-324, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    37. Birger Wernerfelt, 1984. "A resource‐based view of the firm," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(2), pages 171-180, April.
    38. Zoltán J. Ács & Mark W. J. L. Sanders, 2015. "Knowledge spillover entrepreneurship in an endogenous growth model," Chapters, in: Global Entrepreneurship, Institutions and Incentives, chapter 10, pages 174-194, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    39. Anmol Bhandari & Ellen R McGrattan, 2021. "Sweat Equity in U.S. Private Business," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 136(2), pages 727-781.
    40. Tor Jakob Klette & Samuel Kortum, 2004. "Innovating Firms and Aggregate Innovation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(5), pages 986-1018, October.
    41. Haschka, Rouven E. & Herwartz, Helmut, 2020. "Innovation efficiency in European high-tech industries: Evidence from a Bayesian stochastic frontier approach," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(8).
    42. William Gartner & Jianwen Liao, 2012. "The effects of perceptions of risk, environmental uncertainty, and growth aspirations on new venture creation success," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 39(3), pages 703-712, October.
    43. Segerstrom, Paul S & Anant, T C A & Dinopoulos, Elias, 1990. "A Schumpeterian Model of the Product Life Cycle," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(5), pages 1077-1091, December.
    44. Vera Rocha & Luca Grilli, 2024. "Early-stage start-up hiring: the interplay between start-ups’ initial resources and innovation orientation," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 62(4), pages 1641-1668, April.
    45. Zoltán J. Ács & Mark Sanders, 2015. "Patents, knowledge spillovers, and entrepreneurship," Chapters, in: Global Entrepreneurship, Institutions and Incentives, chapter 11, pages 195-212, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    46. He, Lerong, 2008. "Do founders matter? A study of executive compensation, governance structure and firm performance," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 257-279, May.
    47. Bylund, Per L. & McCaffrey, Matthew, 2017. "A theory of entrepreneurship and institutional uncertainty," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 461-475.
    48. Zoltan Acs & Laszlo Szerb, 2007. "Entrepreneurship, Economic Growth and Public Policy," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 28(2), pages 109-122, March.
    49. Battese, G E & Coelli, T J, 1995. "A Model for Technical Inefficiency Effects in a Stochastic Frontier Production Function for Panel Data," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 20(2), pages 325-332.
    50. Dinopoulos, Elias & Thompson, Peter, 1998. "Schumpeterian Growth without Scale Effects," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 3(4), pages 313-335, December.
    51. Kumbhakar,Subal C. & Lovell,C. A. Knox, 2003. "Stochastic Frontier Analysis," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521666633, Enero-Abr.
    52. Johan Wiklund & Per Davidsson & David B. Audretsch & Charlie Karlsson, 2011. "The Future of Entrepreneurship Research," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 35(1), pages 1-9, January.
    53. Rolf Sternberg & Sander Wennekers, 2005. "Determinants and Effects of New Business Creation Using Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Data," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 193-203, January.
    54. Niklas Elert & Magnus Henrekson & Mark Sanders, 2019. "The Entrepreneurial Society," International Studies in Entrepreneurship, Springer, number 978-3-662-59586-2, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Magnus Henrekson & Dan Johansson, 2025. "Neo-Schumpeterian growth theory: missing entrepreneurs results in incomplete policy advice," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 65(1), pages 407-425, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Per Davidsson & Jan Henrik Gruenhagen, 2021. "Fulfilling the Process Promise: A Review and Agenda for New Venture Creation Process Research," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 45(5), pages 1083-1118, September.
    2. Niccolò Ghio & Massimiliano Guerini & Erik Lehmann & Cristina Rossi-Lamastra, 2015. "The emergence of the knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 44(1), pages 1-18, January.
    3. Susan Müller & Alyssa Lara Kirst & Heiko Bergmann & Barbara Bird, 2023. "Entrepreneurs’ actions and venture success: a structured literature review and suggestions for future research," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 60(1), pages 199-226, January.
    4. Milo Bianchi & Magnus Henrekson, 2005. "Is Neoclassical Economics still Entrepreneurless?," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(3), pages 353-377, July.
    5. Magnus Henrekson & Dan Johansson, 2025. "Neo-Schumpeterian growth theory: missing entrepreneurs results in incomplete policy advice," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 65(1), pages 407-425, June.
    6. Marios Zachariadis, 2003. "R&D, innovation, and technological progress: a test of the Schumpeterian framework without scale effects," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 36(3), pages 566-586, August.
    7. David B. Audretsch & Erik E. Lehmann, 2022. "The knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship," Chapters, in: Cristiano Antonelli (ed.), Elgar Encyclopedia on the Economics of Knowledge and Innovation, chapter 39, pages 317-324, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    8. Erik Lundmark & Anna Krzeminska & Hana Milanov, 2025. "“The Odd Ones Out†: How Root Metaphors From Management Studies are Used in Mainstream Entrepreneurship Research," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 49(6), pages 1597-1632, November.
    9. Davidsson, Per, 2015. "Data replication and extension: A commentary," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 3(C), pages 12-15.
    10. Magnus Henrekson & Dan Johansson & Johan Karlsson, 2024. "To Be or Not to Be: The Entrepreneur in Neo-Schumpeterian Growth Theory," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 48(1), pages 104-140, January.
    11. Pontus Braunerhjelm & Zoltán J. Ács & David B. Audretsch & Bo Carlsson, 2015. "The missing link: knowledge diffusion and entrepreneurship in endogenous growth," Chapters, in: Global Entrepreneurship, Institutions and Incentives, chapter 6, pages 108-128, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    12. Elert, Niklas & Henrekson, Magnus, 2021. "Innovative Entrepreneurship as a Collaborative Effort: An Institutional Framework," Foundations and Trends(R) in Entrepreneurship, now publishers, vol. 17(4), pages 330-435, June.
    13. Raquel Ortega-Argilés, 2013. "R&D, knowledge, economic growth and the transatlantic productivity gap," Chapters, in: Frank Giarratani & Geoffrey J.D. Hewings & Philip McCann (ed.), Handbook of Industry Studies and Economic Geography, chapter 11, pages 271-302, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    14. Enrico Santarelli & Marco Vivarelli, 2007. "Entrepreneurship and the process of firms’ entry, survival and growth," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 16(3), pages 455-488, June.
    15. Sascha O Becker & Hans K Hvide, 2022. "Entrepreneur Death and Startup Performance [The knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship]," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 26(1), pages 163-185.
    16. Niklas Elert, 2014. "What determines entry? Evidence from Sweden," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 53(1), pages 55-92, August.
    17. Claire Economidou & Luca Grilli & Magnus Henrekson & Mark Sanders, 2018. "Financial and Institutional Reforms for an Entrepreneurial Society," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 51(2), pages 279-291, August.
    18. Erik Lundmark & Anna Krzeminska & Dean A. Shepherd, 2019. "Images of Entrepreneurship: Exploring Root Metaphors and Expanding Upon Them," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 43(1), pages 138-170, January.
    19. Garcia-Macia, Daniel & Korosteleva, Julia, 2025. "Tracing productivity growth channels in the UK," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(1).
    20. Amable, Bruno & Ledezma, Ivan & Robin, Stéphane, 2016. "Product market regulation, innovation, and productivity," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(10), pages 2087-2104.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • L29 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Other

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp2054. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://cep.lse.ac.uk/_new/publications/discussion-papers/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.