This article describes the benefits and pitfalls of starting a firm with an entrepreneurial team, drawing on a longitudinal empirical analysis of the life course of 90 team start-ups and 1196 solo start-ups in the Netherlands. In the first three years of their existence, team start-ups perform better than solo start-ups on several success indicators. However, after this start phase, entrepreneurial teams face particular problems in realizing further growth. These team-specific bottlenecks can even threaten firm survival. In later life course phases we found a clear distinction between entrepreneurial teams with stagnating growth and teams that succeeded in solving these problems and went on to realize further growth.

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hdl.handle.net/1765/1784
ERIM Report Series Research in Management
Erasmus Research Institute of Management

Stam, E., & Schutjens, V. (2004). The Performance Of Team Start-Ups In The First Phases Of The Life Course (No. ERS-2004-097-ORG). ERIM Report Series Research in Management. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/1765/1784