Do Individual Ambidexterity and Career Experience Help Technological Startup Founders Acquire Funding?
研究了科技初创企业创始人的双元性（同时探索与利用的能力）和基于经验的人力资本如何直接影响并交互影响新企业融资，发现创始人双元性对融资有正向作用，且受其职业经验和创业经验的调节。
In an extension of the entrepreneurship literature's long-standing emphasis on the role of human capital in attracting startup funding, we propose that tech-based startup founder’s ambidexterity and experience-based human capital have direct and interactive effects on new venture funding. Drawing on the human capital perspective, we consider ambidexterity an ability-based human capital that helps entrepreneurs navigate new venture environments and carry out entrepreneurial tasks more effectively. We compiled a unique dataset by gathering data from Crunchbase, social media sites, and entrepreneur’s online communications posted on Reddit. On the basis of text analyses on 115 startup founder’s public discourse using a purpose-built dictionary to measure ambidexterity, our empirical results confirm that founder ambidexterity has positive effects on tech startup funding and that these effects are moderated by founder’s experience-based human capital in terms of prior career experience and startup creation experience. This finding is complemented by semistructured interviews with venture capitalists providing evidence that funders consider founder ambidexterity in their investment decisions. Implications for literature and practice are discussed.