This article explores factors affecting the survival and exit routes of new firms created in 2004 using data from the Kauffman Firm Survey. We draw upon the Resource-Based View to test several hypotheses regarding the impact of both tangible and intangible resources on new firm survival in both service and non-service firms. We also distinguish between two types of exit: closures (permanently stopped operations) and mergers or acquisitions. Our results reveal that, although service and non-service firms may differ in terms of industry structure, the fundamental resources that contribute to their survival are the same: education, work and life experience and adequate levels of startup financial capital. In spite of these similarities, our results did reveal industry differences in terms of exit. We found serial entrepreneurs in the service sector were more likely to exit through merger or acquisition. Conversely, intellectual property decreased the likelihood of exit through merger or acquisition for non-service firms. Thus, our findings revealed a link between human capital, industry and exit route for this sample of new firms.

We examine the debt-equity decisions of startup firms using the Kauffman Firm Survey, the largest database of U.S. startups launched in 2004. To control for sample selection bias and the correlation among financing decisions, we employ a Bivariate Probit-Tobit model. Our results show that several firm characteristics such as growth prospects, firm size, tangible assets, and selling products, as well as owner characteristics such as net worth, experience, education and ethnicity explain the debtequity decisions in the startup year. In addition, for firms that use debt, we document traits that explain the use of a particular type of business versus personal debt. Larger firms use more business debt, whereas home-based and growth firms use more personal sources of debt. Immigrants, owners who lack work experience and those who invest more time in the business tend to rely more on personal sources of debt.

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