Searching for Ghosts: Business Survival, Unmeasured Entrepreneurial Activity and Private Equity Investment in the Dot-Com Era

60 Pages Posted: 26 Oct 2005 Last revised: 13 Jun 2014

See all articles by Brent Goldfarb

Brent Goldfarb

University of Maryland - Robert H. Smith School of Business

Michael D. Pfarrer

University of Georgia - Department of Management

David Kirsch

University of Maryland

Date Written: October 12, 2005

Abstract

A novel database of business planning documents that closely approximates the population of Dot-Com entrepreneurs is introduced and used to compile three estimates: 1) the survival rate of dot-com startups, which we find is 48%; 2) the number of dot-com startups from 1998-2002, which we find to be on the order of 50,000 firms; and 3) the amount of private equity invested in the Dot-Com Era, which we find exceeds reported funding by as much as 18%. The estimates offer the first detailed characterization of the population of firms that supplied the venture capital and IPO markets during the Dot-Com Era. We conclude that the Dot-Com Era, broadly considered, was a legitimate response to a technology shock.

Keywords: Venture finance, angel investing, dot-com era, speculative bubbles, entrepreneurship, industry evolution, survival

JEL Classification: G24, L10, L89, M14, N00

Suggested Citation

Goldfarb, Brent D. and Pfarrer, Michael D. and Kirsch, David, Searching for Ghosts: Business Survival, Unmeasured Entrepreneurial Activity and Private Equity Investment in the Dot-Com Era (October 12, 2005). Robert H. Smith School Research Paper No. RHS 06-027, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=825687 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.825687

Brent D. Goldfarb (Contact Author)

University of Maryland - Robert H. Smith School of Business ( email )

College Park, MD 20742-1815
United States
301-405-9672 (Phone)
301-314-8787 (Fax)

Michael D. Pfarrer

University of Georgia - Department of Management ( email )

United States

David Kirsch

University of Maryland ( email )

College Park
College Park, MD 20742
United States

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