From Founders to Firm: Examining the Retention of Founder-CEO Social Capital in Venture-Backed Firms

Authors

Bret R. Fund, University of Colorado BoulderFollow

Abstract

This paper examines how organizations protect themselves from the negative social and economic consequences associated with the loss of a key member and their social capital. Drawing on the social capital and upper echelons literatures, the author(s) hypothesize that social capital can be institutionalized. The corresponding hypotheses are tested on a sample of 125 venture-backed software firms and the results demonstrate that the institutionalization of a founder-CEO’s social capital leads to better performance for a firm. The results provide a basis for understanding how social mechanisms influence economic organization as well as succession and compensation in a new venture context.

Keywords

Founder-ceo transitions, venture capital, startups, social capital & entrepreneurial leadership

Recommended Citation

Fund, Bret R. (2014) "From Founders to Firm: Examining the Retention of Founder-CEO Social Capital in Venture-Backed Firms," The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance: Vol. 18: Iss. 2.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.57229/2373-1761.1257
Available at: https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/jef/vol18/iss2/4

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License