Failing Just Fine: Assessing Careers of Venture Capital-backed Entrepreneurs via a Non-Wage Measure

Graham J. Abbott, Natee Amornsiripanitch, Paul Gompers, George Hu (), Will Levinson and Vladimir Mukharlyamov ()
Additional contact information
Natee Amornsiripanitch: https://www.philadelphiafed.org/our-people/natee-amornsiripanitch
Vladimir Mukharlyamov: https://gufaculty360.georgetown.edu/s/contact/00336000014SIGUAA4/vladimir-mukharlyamov

No 23-17, Working Papers from Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia

Abstract: This paper proposes a non-pecuniary measure of career achievement: seniority. Based on a database of over 130 million resumes, this metric exploits the variation in how long it takes to attain job titles. When non-monetary factors influence career choice, assessing career attainment via non-wage measures, such as seniority, has significant advantages. Accordingly, we use our seniority measure to study labor market outcomes of VC-backed entrepreneurs. Would-be founders experience accelerated career trajectories prior to founding, significantly outperforming graduates from same-tier colleges with similar first jobs. After exiting their start-ups, they obtain jobs about three years more senior than their peers who hold (i) same-tier college degrees, (ii) similar first jobs, and (iii) similar jobs immediately prior to founding their company. Even failed founders find jobs with higher seniority than those attained by their non-founder peers.

Keywords: career progression; entrepreneurship; venture capital (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G00 J00 J3 J30 J31 J44 J6 J63 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 76
Date: 2023-08-28
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ent, nep-inv and nep-lma
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Working Paper: Failing Just Fine: Assessing Careers of Venture Capital-backed Entrepreneurs Via a Non-Wage Measure (2022)
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DOI: 10.21799/frbp.wp.2023.17

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