Who Becomes a Successful Entrepreneur? The Role of Early Industry Exposure

We consider the role of parental influence on the industry choice of entrepreneurs and the success of their ventures. Almost 75% of male entrepreneurs start a firm in an industry that is the same or closely related to their fathers’ industry of employment. Ventures started by same-industry entrepreneurs have superior mean outcomes and higher propensity to be positive outliers. The patterns cannot be explained by parents helping out or by inherited intrinsic abilities. We argue that entrepreneurs appear to obtain industry knowledge through interacting with parents during upbringing, or “dinner table human capital.”