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Prof. Peer C. Fiss
Professor of Management & Organization
Marshall School of Business
University of Southern California

The gender gap in technology entrepreneurship has been extensively documented, and a number of recent studies have sought the impact of individual factors such as education or professional experience. However, education and professional experience are highly related, and potentially offer compounding advantages or disadvantages to entrepreneurs. In this paper, we use a set analytic approach which allows us to understand the combination of factors that successful founders commonly exhibit. We find that men have more pathways to entrepreneurship, and that these pathways are less complex (more flexible) which in turn enables a greater share of individuals to become founders. Reducing the gender gap in entrepreneurship requires finding opportunities for women from a greater share of business and educational backgrounds to become founders.