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When incubator resources are crucial: survival chances of student startups operating in an academic incubator

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Abstract

Earlier studies provide mixed results regarding the influence of incubator resources on a startup’s chances of survival. This study suggests that this is because they tend not to take into consideration the attributes of the founders who actually make use of those resources. Based on 59 student startups operating in an academic incubator, this study finds that founding teams’ prior experience moderates the positive relationship between an incubator’s mentoring program and the startup’s chances of survival through the first year. The results demonstrate that the survival chances of startups whose founding teams have high levels of managerial experience or low levels of entrepreneurial experience are low when they do not take advantage of the incubator’s mentoring program. Drawing on learning theory, this study explains how different types of prior experience influence the relationship between the incubator’s mentoring program and the startup’s first year survival chances. The study’s results expand our understanding of and contribute to resource-based view theory by considering the interactive influence of founding teams’ human capital and incubators’ resources on startups’ chances of survival.

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Acknowledgements

Funding was provided by Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation (Grant No. 74538/A001).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hadassah Academic College, 37 Hanevi’im, 9101001, Jerusalem, Israel

    Tali Hadasa Blank

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  1. Tali Hadasa Blank
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Correspondence to Tali Hadasa Blank.

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Appendix

Appendix

1.1 Measurement Scale

Independent variables:

  1. 1.

    How many years of managerial experience (regarding people and/or projects) do you have? (1) None; (2) Less than 1 year; (3) 1–2 years; (4) 2–3 years; (5) 3–4 years; and (5) More than 4 years.

  2. 2.

    How many other businesses have you founded or co-founded? (1) None; (2) One; (3) Two; (4) Three; and (5) “More than three.

  3. 3.

    How much use has your team made of the mentoring program? On a five-point Likert scale: 1 (Never); 2 (Rarely); 3 (Sometimes); 4 (Often); 5 (Always).

Control:

  1. 1.

    Please specify your startup’s main sector: 1-Healthcare and Life Sciences; 2-Consumer Goods and Services; 3-Social Entrepreneurship.

  2. 2.

    How many years of previous general full-time work experience do you have? (1) None; (2) Less than 1 year; (3) 1–2 years; (4) 2–3 years; (5) 3–4 years; and (5) More than 4 years.

  3. 3.

    Gender: (0) Female (1) Male.

  4. 4.

    Age: Please specify your age: (1) Under 18; (2) 18–24; (3) 25–34; (4) 35–44; (5) 45–54; and (6) 55 +.

  5. 5.

    Team size: What is the total number of team members (including yourself) in your startup? Please include all types of people working in it, such as full-time, part-time, volunteers, and sub-contractors.

  6. 6.

    How many times has your team’s participation in the i-lab been renewed for an additional semester? (1) Never; (2) Once; (3) Twice; (4) Three-times; (5) More than three-times.

  7. 7.

    Maximum number of business opportunities the team identified: Please specify the business opportunities (up to 5) that you have identified for your startup technology/capabilities:

 

Product/service

Target customer

We initially decided:

To try to pursue it

To keep it as an option for a later stage

Not to pursue it

1.

     

2.

     

3.

     

4.

     

5.

     

Descriptive Statistics Summary:

 

Variable

Mean

SD

Min

Max

1.

Mentoring program

3.25

0.86

1

5

2.

Team’s managerial experience

1.99

1.35

0

4.5

3.

Team’s entrepreneurial experience

1.03

1.55

0

4

4.

Startup existence (Y/N)

0.70

0.45

0

1

Control variables

5.

Team’s work experience

2.93

1.45

0

4.5

6.

Founders’ age

2.86

0.50

2

4

7.

Team size

3.52

2.07

2

8

8.

Time at i-lab

1.15

1.27

0

2

9.

Max number of business opportunities

2.52

1.29

1

5

10.

Gender ratio

25.51

31.47

0

100

11.

Sector

1.71

0.77

1

3

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Blank, T.H. When incubator resources are crucial: survival chances of student startups operating in an academic incubator. J Technol Transf 46, 1845–1868 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10961-020-09831-4

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