The Effects of Prior Category Spanning and Social Networks within Serial Entrepreneurial Teams in Crowdfunding

With a rapid growth of interest in serial entrepreneurship in crowdfunding, much attention has been given to the prior success records. However, little is known about the role of social connections established during the previous venturing experiences for the future entrepreneurial success. Employing a uniquely team-focused approach, this study attempts to develop prior serial entrepreneurship literature which mainly focused on a single entrepreneurial individual. From the team-based perspective, this article tries to disentangle serial entrepreneurial team members’ prior experience into two aspects - where it occurred (i.e., prior category spanning) and with whom it was (i.e., prior sharing experience ties). Furthermore, we investigate under what conditions this prior experience was acquired. Hypotheses are tested using a longitudinal 2-wave data sample of 1,457 serial entrepreneurial teams for ten-year period in Kickstarter, the most prominent crowdfunding platform. Results showed that prior sharing experience ties positively predict entrepreneurial team success while prior category spanning does not have any significant effects. The effect of prior category spanning on serial venture success, rather, turns significantly positive in considering with the interaction effect of success experience. This indicates that whether the prior category spanning was successful or unsuccessful is highly valued in the prediction of serial venture performance. Based on these findings, we discuss the implications for subsequent venturing.