Purpose The purpose of this paper is to offer a unique perspective on the role of entrepreneurs’ hard work for the relationship between entrepreneur human capital and venture success. To this end, this study examined whether entrepreneurs with high human capital work harder than entrepreneurs with low human capital, the effect of entrepreneurs’ hard work on venture performance, and whether entrepreneurs’ hard work mediates the relationship between entrepreneur human capital and venture performance. Design/methodology/approach In this explorative study, the role of entrepreneurs’ hard work as a mediator that transfers entrepreneur human capital into venture success was examined in a sample of 2,648 single-founder startups in the USA and 21,184 observations during the period of 2004-2011. Findings The effect of entrepreneurs’ industry experience on entrepreneurs’ hard work was significantly positive, while the effect of entrepreneurs’ general education on entrepreneurs’ hard work was significantly negative. Moreover, entrepreneurs’ hard work was a significant predictor of venture success. Finally, the results showed that entrepreneurs’ hard work partially mediates the positive relationship between entrepreneurs’ industry experience and venture success. Originality/value On one hand, the link between human capital and firm performance has been studied thoroughly and findings so far support the positive link between them. On the other hand, there has been continuous criticism that human capital gained much of its attention at the expense of human labor. There is a paucity of research, however, that investigating the dynamics of the relationships between human capital and human labor. This study provides an empirical explanation of such dynamics of the relationships of human characteristics in the context of entrepreneurship.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the critical success factors of platform leadership in the Web 2.0 based service business environment. Because of the lack of theoretical foundation for this topic, we adopted relevant theory and case study analyses. Representative Web 2.0 firms which have developed platform leadership were chosen and analyzed on the basis of previous research on platform strategy through spider web analysis. This study shows that Web 2.0 firms such as Google, Flickr, and Salesforce.com differ in their competitive capabilities for platform leadership. The result of this research suggests that platform leadership in the Web 2.0 era depends on five interdependent dimensions: innovation ability, connectivity, complementarities, efficiency, and network effects.

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The purpose of this article is to focus on the role of the legal structure of ventures for the event of the entrepreneurial exit. Specifically, this study is to reveal the different effects of incorporated and non-incorporated legal structures of ventures on diverse exit routes. Using the Kauffman Firm Survey, this study investigated the relationship between the legal structure of ventures and their exit routes with a sample of 901 single-founder start-ups that were founded in 2004 and exited during 2005 to 2011 period. The finding of this study confirmed that ventures with an incorporated legal structure were less likely to exit by sale than ventures with a non-incorporated legal structure. While little research has considered the legal structure of ventures as a predictor of different exit routes, this study empirically suggests the importance of considering the forms of the legal status of ventures in studying entrepreneurial exit routes.