J. Daniel Kim

J. Daniel Kim and Saerom Lee, Research: When Should Startups Scale? in Harvard Business Review,.

Abstract: Silicon Valley often touts rapid scaling as the best strategy for achieving startup success. However, new research reveals that scaling early, particularly within the first 12 months, significantly raises the risk of startup failure, especially for two-sided platforms. The key takeaway for entrepreneurs: Be cautious with early scaling and prioritize a culture of experimentation. Taking a “slow-and-steady” approach to scaling may provide a more sustainable path to long-term success.

J. Daniel Kim and Saerom Lee (Under Review), Target Startup’s Organizational Structure and Acquirer’s Integration-Separation Decision.

Abstract: To reap the benefits of startup acquisition, acquirers strategically choose whether to integrate or separate their targets. This study examines how this post-acquisition organization design choice between integration and separation depends on the target startup's pre-acquisition organizational structure. Leveraging employee-employer-matched data to construct a novel measure of post-acquisition separation based on employee mobility patterns, we find that acquirers are more likely to separate more structurally complex target startups. Additional analyses are consistent with the view that, as the target firm's structural complexity can increase the disruptive costs of integrating the two firms but reduce coordination costs when kept separate, post-acquisition separation becomes more suitable. Our results shed light on an important organizational antecedent that shapes the relative appeal of integration versus separation in startup acquisitions.

Saerom Lee and J. Daniel Kim (2024), When Do Startups Scale? Large-scale Evidence from Job Postings, Strategic Management Journal. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.3596

Abstract: Scaling at the right time is a crucial challenge for startups. Conceptualizing “scaling” as the entrepreneurial process of acquiring and committing resources to implement the core business idea and expand the customer base, this study examines how scaling early may decrease imitation risk at the expense of increasing commitment risk. As startups typically hire managers and sales personnel when they begin to scale, we propose that this timing can be empirically measured by when startups first post these jobs. Leveraging a dataset of job postings, we find that early scalers are more likely to fail, but no evidence of a countervailing benefit in terms of successful exit. Additional analyses suggest that the commitment risk in scaling early outweighs the benefit of reducing imitation risk.

J. Daniel Kim, Joonkyu Choi, Nathan Goldschlag, John Haltiwanger (2024), Early Joiners and Startup Performance, Review of Economics and Statistics.

Abstract: We show that early joiners—non-founder employees in the first year of a startup—play a critical role in shaping firm performance. We use administrative employer-employee matched data on US startups and utilize premature death as a natural experiment that exogenously separates talent from startups. We find that losing an early joiner has large negative effects on employment and revenues that persist for at least ten years. In contrast, losing a later joiner yields only a small and temporary decline in firm performance. Our results imply that organization capital, an important driver of startup success, is embodied in early joiners.

J. Daniel Kim and Minjae Kim (2023), Founder Turnover and Organizational Change, Organization Science, Forthcoming (2023).

Abstract: Why might start-ups not change even when doing so may enhance firm performance? It seems reasonable to point to founder presence as a potential culprit given founders’ cognitive myopia and/or commitment to the status quo. However, founder presence may instead be a facilitator of change in response to environmental uncertainty because founders can uniquely coordinate resources needed for organizational change. We empirically address these two opposing views on the impact of founder presence (versus loss) on organizational change by using a comprehensive administrative data set of start-ups in the United States. Correlational analysis shows that start-ups generally become less likely to change following founder turnover. Given the potentially endogenous nature of founder turnover, we exploit premature deaths as a natural experiment that suddenly removes some founders from their start-ups while leaving others intact. We find that start-ups are less likely to change after losing a founder, especially if the founder loss happens during an economic recession. At the same time, the effect is attenuated when losing a founder with more experience in the same industry, suggesting that founder presence can also contribute to reinforcing the status quo under some conditions. Broadly, these results not only show that founders tend to facilitate change in their organizations but also identify when founders are merely subject to organizations’ bureaucratic forces that they themselves may have imprinted originally.

J. Daniel Kim (2022), Startup Acquisitions, Relocation, and Employee Entrepreneurship, Strategic Management Journal, 43 (11), pp. 2189-2216.

Abstract: This study examines the impact of startup acquisition on the acquired employees’ propensity for entrepreneurship. As a new owner, the acquirer may not prioritize acquired employees’ ideas to be commercialized internally, thereby increasing the odds that they are pursued externally. Leveraging employee-employer matched data from US Census on high-tech startup acquisitions and their workforce in 1990-2011, I find that startup acquisitions substantially increase the rate of employee entrepreneurship both within and outside the target firm’s industry. Post-acquisition entrepreneurship is disproportionally concentrated among individuals with high human capital. Moreover, this effect is amplified when the target startup is relocated to the acquirer’s location, and largely muted when left in its original location. Overall, this study highlights startup acquisitions as an important organizational precursor to employee entrepreneurship.

J. Daniel Kim, Pierre Azoulay, Benjamin Jones, Javier Miranda (2022), Immigration and Entrepreneurship in the United States, American Economic Review: Insights, 4 (1), pp. 71-99.

Abstract: Immigration can expand labor supply and create greater competition for native-born workers. But immigrants may also start new firms, expanding labor demand. This paper uses U.S. administrative data and other data resources to study the role of immigrants in entrepreneurship. We ask how often immigrants start companies, how many jobs these firms create, and how these firms compare with those founded by U.S.-born individuals. A simple model provides a measurement framework for addressing the dual roles of immigrants as founders and workers. The findings suggest that immigrants act more as “job creators” than “job takers” and that non-U.S. born founders play outsized roles in U.S. high-growth entrepreneurship.

J. Daniel Kim (Draft), Startup Acquisitions as a Hiring Strategy: Worker Choice and Turnover.

Abstract: This study investigates the effectiveness of high-tech startup acquisitions as a hiring strategy (“acqui-hiring”) versus traditional hiring. Using population-level data from US Census, I find that acquired workers exhibit significantly greater rates of turnover than regular hires, especially among high-earning individuals. I explore a theoretical mechanism based on the premise that, unlike regular hires who voluntarily choose to join a new firm, most acquired employees do not have a voice in the decision to be acquired. I posit that this lack of worker choice instigates organizational mismatch, thereby elevating turnover rates among acquired workers. Moreover, I document that firms learn from prior acquisitions how to effectively retain acquired employees. Together, these results elucidate the conditions under which firms can harness new talent by acquiring startups.

J. Daniel Kim, Pierre Azoulay, Benjamin Jones, Javier Miranda (2020), Age and High-Growth Entrepreneurship, American Economic Review: Insights, 2 (1), pp. 65-82.

Abstract: Do young people make better entrepreneurs? Many observers, and many investors, believe that young people are especially likely to produce the most successful new firms. We use administrative data at the U.S. Census Bureau to study the ages of founders of growth-oriented start-ups in the past decade. Our primary finding is that successful entrepreneurs are middle-aged, not young. The mean founder age for the 1 in 1,000 fastest growing new ventures is 45.0. The findings are broadly similar when considering high-technology sectors, entrepreneurial hubs, and successful firm exits. Prior experience in the specific industry predicts much greater rates of entrepreneurial success. These findings strongly reject common hypotheses that emphasize youth as a key trait of successful entrepreneurs.

J. Daniel Kim, Edward B. Roberts, Fiona Murray (2019), Entrepreneurship and Innovation at MIT: Continuing Global Growth and Impact, Foundations and Trends in Entrepreneurship, 15 (1), pp. 1-55.

Abstract: This study analyzes the economic impact of MIT alumni-founded companies and highlights the key trends in the MIT entrepreneurial ecosystem between 1950 and 2014. Based on a large-scale survey of all living MIT alumni in 2014, we estimate that MIT alumni have launched more than 30,000 active companies that employ roughly 4.6 million people and generate $1.9 trillion in annual revenues, which is approximately the size of the world's 10th largest GDP. We highlight the role of foreign-born students as entrepreneurs and innovators as well as key trends in the alumni-founded ventures’ industry composition, firm performance, and economic impact through job creation and sales. Lastly, based on the lessons from MIT in the past 60 years, we discuss various implications for university leadership for designing and implementing educational curriculum and programs to address the evolving nature of alumni entrepreneurship and innovation.