Exploring the sentiment of entrepreneurs on Twitter

Sentiment analysis is an evolving field of study that employs artificial intelligence techniques to identify the emotions and opinions expressed in a given text. Applying sentiment analysis to study the billions of messages that circulate in popular online social media platforms has raised numerous opportunities for exploring the emotional expressions of their users. In this paper we combine sentiment analysis with natural language processing and topic analysis techniques and conduct two different studies to examine whether engagement in entrepreneurship is associated with more positive emotions expressed on Twitter. In study 1, we investigate three samples with 6.717.308, 13.253.244, and 62.067.509 tweets respectively. We find that entrepreneurs express more positive emotions than non-entrepreneurs for most topics. We also find that social entrepreneurs express more positive emotions, and that serial entrepreneurs express less positive emotions than other entrepreneurs. In study 2, we use 21.491.962 tweets to explore 37.225 job-status changes by individuals who entered or quit entrepreneurship. We find that a job change to entrepreneurship is associated with a shift in the expression of emotions to more positive ones.

The transition from novice to serial crowdfunders: behavioral antecedents and well-being drivers

PurposeSerial crowdfunders are vital to the advancement of crowdfunding, either by launching subsequent campaigns or by mentoring novice (first-time) crowdfunders. However, research on crowdfunders’ drivers has focused on either novice crowdfunders’ motivations or the factors contributing to serial crowdfunders’ success. The present study aims to complement existing knowledge on serial crowdfunders by exploring behavioral and well-being aspects that drive novice crowdfunders to become serial crowdfunders.Design/methodology/approachData on crowdfunders were retrieved through in-depth interviews with 42 novice and 17 serial crowdfunders on a list provided by the largest crowdfunding platform in Israel. Complementary data were collected from interviews with the chief executive officers (CEOs) of two leading rewards and donations platforms in Israel and from the contents of the pages of crowdfunding campaigns. A four-stage process of content analysis was applied.FindingsNovice and serial crowdfunders follow different logics. While novice crowdfunders’ motivations and behavior can mostly be explained by the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and follow a more rational process, serial crowdfunders’ motivations and behavior are guided by aspects of well-being.Originality/valueThe findings show that the more rational process described by the TPB and the dimensions of well-being interacts in a circular way to motivate serial operations by crowdfunders. Well-being is also manifested in the maintenance of social ties and the development of social capital, which are crucial for serial entrepreneurs.

Revisiting the Entrepreneurial Commercialization of Academic Science: Evidence from “Twin” Discoveries

Which factors shape the commercialization of academic scientific discoveries via startup formation? Prior literature has identified several contributing factors but does not address the fundamental problem that the commercial potential of a nascent discovery is generally unobserved, which potentially confounds inference. We construct a sample of approximately 20,000 “twin” scientific articles, which allows us to hold constant differences in the nature of the advance and more precisely examine characteristics that predict startup commercialization. In this framework, several commonly accepted factors appear not to influence commercialization. However, we find that teams of academic scientists whose former collaborators include “star” serial entrepreneurs are much more likely to commercialize their own discoveries via startups, as are more interdisciplinary teams of scientists. This paper was accepted by Sridhar Tayur, entrepreneurship and innovation.

Strategies for Creating Technology Businesses by Serial Entrepreneurs as a Source of New Industrialization

The demand for new industrialization makes the lack of innovation in Russia a topical issue. Serial entrepreneurs are a promising source of innovation. Basing on empirical data (SPARK database), we considered the hypothesis that mass strategies for establishing a technology business are less effective. The aim of the article is to develop a theoretical and methodological approach to serial technology entrepreneurship as a source of new industrialization. The authors identified 4 dominant strategies used by serial entrepreneurs to set up technology businesses. The necessity of a new term "serial potential" of an entrepreneur is substantiated. The research novelty refers to the development of the methodological approach "The Effect of serial technology entrepreneur", which allows evaluating the performance of serial technology entrepreneurs in setting up technology companies. It has been found that the strategy "From services in technology field to production" is the most advantageous in terms of total efficiency for new industrialization.

To the problem of rational search for investors by ukranian scientists, in particular among cor­porate venture funds in the biomedical field

The article deals with the issues of the rational approach for attracting investments in the process of commercialization of R&D results in the field of biomedical science by Ukrainian scientists. Some differences between business angels, venture capital (VC), and corporate venture capital (CVC) funds have been investigated. It has been found that engagement with CVC can have several important advantages over other types of investors. Maximizing profits is not the most important task for CVC. This leads to the fact that innovators can expect better financial results when evaluating a startup by CVC comparing with a conventional VC. Corporate venture fund experts are well aware of the situation in the profile market and are able to evaluate professionally the proposed technology immediately, despite possible mistakes in the pitch presentation or business plan. An analysis of all three investor groups (business angels, VCs and CVCs) showed that CVC are equally important to Ukrainian innovators, because unlike the first two groups of potential investors, they may consider the proposed technology despite the lack of professional business managers, or successful serial entrepreneurs in a team that often happens in Ukraine. In this context, obtaining professional advice, assistance in the formation of a company team, or potential licensing are extremely important. Also, quite relevant is the increased likelihood of a better financial result when assessing by CVC and the fact that the CVC brand of a large multinational company will increase the bargaining position with other funds in subsequent rounds of investment.

Entrepreneurial experience and the innovativeness of serial entrepreneurs

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of past entrepreneurial experience on the reported innovativeness of serial entrepreneurs’ subsequent ventures. Design/methodology/approach Building on insights from the generative entrepreneurial learning process and from cognition theories, the authors propose that regardless of the type of entrepreneurial experience, positive or negative, such experience enriches the cognitive schemas of serial entrepreneurs leading them to greater reported innovativeness. The proposed hypotheses are tested on a unique sample drawn from a Catalan adult population survey. Findings Results reveal that practical experience is an essential prerequisite for entrepreneurial learning, and even negative entrepreneurial experience may induce generative entrepreneurial learning suitable for subsequent outperforming ventures for the psychologically strong who have managed to learn from their experience. Practical implications The importance of this study stretches beyond a purely academic discussion and has implications for policy making within the area of business and economic development. Appropriate policy depends on the likeliness for serial entrepreneurs to improve. Thus, if serial entrepreneurs learn from their venturing experiences and/or acquire valuable knowledge from them, they may perform better, on average, in subsequent ventures. If subsequent ventures do build upon prior entrepreneurial experiences, calls for policy to encourage re-entries by entrepreneurs may be warranted, even if those entrepreneurs performed poorly in their previous ventures. Originality/value The authors analyze the impact of past performance of serial entrepreneurs on the reported innovativeness of their subsequence ventures. The contributions of this study stand as: the inclusion of the re-entry decision together with the innovativeness decision of entrepreneurs within the same model; separation of the positive or negative nature of serial entrepreneurs’ past experiences; focus on the entrepreneur rather than the firm as a unit of analysis; the use of a unique primary data set specifically collected for the purpose of this study about the past entrepreneurial experience of the Catalan adult population.