The effect of founder CEOs’ technical and business education on the amount of entrepreneurial financing in the global fintech industry

2023-12
Yavuz , R. Işıl
This paper explores whether and how a founder CEO’s technical and business education affects the amount of entrepreneurial financing in the fintech industry. Using signaling and human capital theories, this study examines 185 startups from Bangalore, Beijing, Berlin, and Boston and finds that founder CEOs with technical education are positively associated with the total amount of entrepreneurial financing. In contrast, founder CEOs with business education are surprisingly negatively associated with it. Moreover, there is an interaction effect between technical and business education. The negative association between business education and the amount of financing weakens when CEOs also have technical education. This paper contributes to entrepreneurship literature by emphasizing the role of founder CEOs’ technical and business education as important signals in accessing financial capital in the fintech industry.
Citation Formats
R. I. Yavuz, “The effect of founder CEOs’ technical and business education on the amount of entrepreneurial financing in the global fintech industry,” ODTÜ Gelişme Dergisi, vol. 50, no. 2, pp. 429–456, 2023, Accessed: 00, 2024. [Online]. Available: https://hdl.handle.net/11511/107833.