Entry Strategies, Founder's Human Capital and Start- Up Size

This paper provides a detailed insight into the determinants of new born firms' initial size and its employment composition. As survival prospects of young firms are directly linked to a firm's initial size a better understanding of the factors influencing start-up size is crucial. We find that in addition to industry effects initial size and employment composi- tion is considerably influenced by the generic and specific human capital components of the firm's founder(s). Furthermore, firms with an entry strategy which is based on serving the market with new products create more employment than other start-ups.