Top Management Team/Entrepreneur Profile

The entrepreneurial organization founder is of primary interest in the context of the restructuring of a company to public status (the public offering process). The presence and characteristics of the entrepreneur/founder are hypothesized to add observable and measurable value to the firm when that person serves in a top management position and is a feature taken into account by potential investors or venture capitalists in the firm, along with characteristics of the board. In an effort to study the impact of demand determinants on venture capital involvement and notably the top management team/founder characteristics, we examined 215 Initial Public Offerings in the US healthcare market and we were specifically concerned to draw relationships between venture capital involvement, board independence and founder/ entrepreneur characteristics and whether VC backed IPOs are more likely to have experienced founders and more independent board from one side or more likely to have less entrenched founders and more independent boards from another side.