TY - JOUR T1 - The Impact on Management Experience on the Performance of Start-Ups within Accelerators JF - The Journal of Private Equity SP - 9 LP - 19 DO - 10.3905/jpe.2014.18.1.009 VL - 18 IS - 1 AU - Sean Wise AU - Dave Valliere Y1 - 2014/11/30 UR - https://pm-research.com/content/18/1/9.abstract N2 - We investigate the effects that the experience level of accelerator management teams has on the performance of the accelerators they manage. In particular, we examine how the collective business experience of the accelerator managers influences the survival and growth of tenant firms within the accelerator. The experience of accelerator managers is assessed from two perspectives: their own direct knowledge from operating entrepreneurial startups, and their ability to access the knowledge of others from their professional networks. The survival and growth of tenant firms is assessed as the hazard rates for successful exits (acquisitions) and unsuccessful exits (firm failures). We find evidence to suggest that increased knowledge of accelerator managers reduces the risk of firm failures and that this reduction can be attributed more to differences in the amount of direct experience the accelerator management team has as founders in startups, than to differences in connectedness to the ecosystem.TOPICS: Private equity, equity portfolio management, manager selection, statistical methods ER -