Essays on High-Growth Entrepreneurial Firms: Evidence from Unicorn Ventures

Abstract

Previous management, finance, and entrepreneurship theories have paid less attention to unicorn ventures. The recent studies only provide an incomplete understanding of unicorn ventures as they do not systematically explain how they are different from the existing established firms or smaller nascent ventures. This dissertation explores the unicorn ventures’ unique distinctiveness in terms of media legitimization, resource acquisition, and venture growth and scaling. To do so, I summarize the previous literature on the phenomenon of unicorn ventures. I suggest exploratory research on unicorn ventures to understand the factors influencing scaling speed to unicorn venture status. Also, I examine unicorn ventures’ financial resource acquisition at Initial Public Offering, comparing unicorn ventures with non-unicorn ventures going public in the North American stock exchanges between 2011 and 2018. I suggest that unicorn ventures experience a greater underpricing than other firms because of media uncertainty stemming from the high expectations surrounding the venture’s future performance.