Research

Working Papers:


Abstract:  How do past entrepreneurial outcomes inform us about entrepreneurship? Does failure breed failure like success breeds success? This paper aims to deepen our understanding of the risks associated with entrepreneurship by studying serial entrepreneurs. It specifically explores the relevance of entrepreneurial experience in shaping future venture outcomes. By comparing first-time entrepreneurs to second-timers, it provides evidence that the latter have an edge over the former in many respects. More importantly, it underlines that experiencing failure is detrimental neither to future success nor to access to financing. Thus, this suggests that experience has value for entrepreneurs.

Presentations: Dauphine Finance Seminar (2023), Annual Corporate Finance Days (2023), CEPR IMO-ENT Conference (2023), HEC Paris Finance Ph.D. Workshop (2023), 7th Entrepreneurial Finance Association (ENTFIN) Conference (2023), Durham Job Market Paper Conference (2023), 6th Dauphine Finance Ph.D. Workshop (2023)


Abstract:  This paper asks whether geographical clustering and in-person interactions are still essential features of the venture capital (VC) industry in the age of online communications. Exploring how VCs respond to an unexpected interruption in face-to-face meetings during the Covid-19 pandemic, we document that they break their traditional norm by investing in more distant startups. This evolution goes along with several changes in selection criteria and VCs' syndication process. Overall, our study reveals that online interactions cannot perfectly substitute for in-person meetings and helps us understand how VCs revisit their investment model. 

Presentations: KU Leuven Brownbag Seminar (2024), Erasmus School of Economics Seminar (2024), LBS Private Capital Symposium (2023), 5th Future of Financial Information Conference (2023), Columbia Private Equity Conference (2023),  AFA Poster Session (2023), Stanford Remote Work Conference (2022), HEC Paris Finance Ph.D. Workshop (2022), Dauphine Finance Seminar (2022), SFI-USI Summer School (2022), Imperial College Seminar (2022), IESE Brownbag Seminar (2022), WEFI Ph.D. Workshop (2022)

Coverage:  PE Findings Issue 19 (by Coller Capital)  


Abstract:  Behavioral biases and agency frictions are essential to the financing of new ventures. In this paper, I develop a moral hazard model with subjective beliefs that captures distinct forms of behavioral biases and identifies conditions under which an entrepreneur will experience the stigma of failure. I show that while overconfidence protects entrepreneurs from the direct consequences of being stigmatized, optimism alone should not. Hence, investors are more likely to finance negative NPV projects when optimistic entrepreneurs are mistaken for overconfident ones. Such suboptimal decisions also appear when investors are optimistic, in which case entrepreneurial overconfidence fosters the excess financing of negative NPV projects. On the contrary, when investors are pessimistic, entrepreneurial overconfidence reduces the underfinancing of good projects.   As economic conditions may influence beliefs, I also discuss macroeconomic implications and provide empirical predictions.

Presentations:  Dauphine Finance Seminar (2021), 37th International Conference of the French Finance Association - Ph.D. Workshop (2021),  11th AEI Congress Montpellier (2019)



Abstract: Considering how volatile the venture capital (VC) industry is, it is essential to understand the relationship between the timing of a VC investment and its performance in a wave context. In this paper, we investigate this relationship by defining VC investment waves similarly to M&A waves.   We argue that investments made before or early in a wave provide higher chances of success than those made in a wave or any other period. We show that venture capitalists with industry experience and high specialization are more likely to invest earlier in waves when they are well connected by their network in an industry. Without industry connections, they delay their investments and invest during a wave, reducing their likelihood of success.

Presentations: Dauphine Finance Seminar (2020),  ECBA 2019 - Entrepreneurship: Cognitive and Behavioral Approaches Workshop (2019) 

Work in Progress:


Presentations:  Workshop on experiments in corporate and entrepreneurial finance, Lyon (2019);  Annual private capital conference (poster session), Montreux (2019); ECBA 2019 - Entrepreneurship: Cognitive and Behavioral Approaches Workshop, Paris (2019), Dauphine Finance Seminar (2019)