Research

My research lies at the intersection of entrepreneurship and strategy, with a focus on founder demographics. I study how entrepreneurs overcome early-stage constraints through the lens of human capital and institutional change. I also examine how dynamic market conditions, such as new certification or shifts in policy, reshape how firms compete and are evaluated.

Publications

1. Minimum Viable Signal: Venture Funding, Social Movements, and Race
   Matt Marx, Qian Wang, & Emmanuel Yimfor (equal authorship)
   Management Science, 72(4), 3332–3350, 2026
   Winner, Bradford-Osborne Research Award.
   Featured on the NBER homepage.
   Media mentions: Wall Street Journal, Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, Cornell Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner
   Abstract

   How do venture capital investors react to social movements, including those that relate to historical underrepresentation in funding? We use image and name algorithms combined with clerical review to classify race for 150,000 founders and 30,000 investors. These data allow us to assess the impact of George Floyd's murder on VC funding of Black entrepreneurs and identify which VCs were most responsive. Although VCs responded swiftly, investment in Black-founded startups reverted to prior levels within two years. This temporary reaction was concentrated among those who had never previously invested in any Black entrepreneur. Moreover, the investors who responded were less likely to invest in more than one Black-founded startup and were less inclined to engage deeply by taking a board seat. Finally, it appears that the best Black entrepreneurs may have anticipated this "token" response because they did not match with investors who had no experience funding Black startups.

2. When Certification Backfires: Negative Spillovers on Noncertified Offerings in Airbnb Plus
   Heeyon Kim, Qian Wang, & Martina Montauti
   Forthcoming at Organization Science
   Abstract

   Research on certification has largely emphasized its positive effects, showing that certification can enhance trust and legitimacy for certified actors and in some cases, generate positive spillovers that benefit uncertified counterparts. Yet, certification programs are frequently scaled back or discontinued, suggesting that their broader consequences may be more complex than commonly assumed. In particular, certification can produce negative spillovers by sharpening distinctions between certified and noncertified actors; through a contrast mechanism, juxtaposition with certified offerings heightens the salience of uncertainty and leads audiences to evaluate noncertified actors less favorably, even when underlying quality is unchanged. We test this argument using data from the launch of Airbnb Plus, a program in which Airbnb certified a subset of listings based on verified quality standards. Employing a difference-in-differences design comparing Los Angeles (where the program was launched) and San Diego (where it was not), we find a negative treatment effect on the revenues of noncertified listings in Los Angeles. This negative spillover is attenuated when alternative quality signals are available, when noncertified listings are less directly comparable with certified ones, and when listings are more difficult to substitute outside the platform. Our findings suggest how certification systems intended to enhance trust and legitimacy can under certain market conditions inadvertently disadvantage noncertified actors.

Work in Progress

1. Bring an Adult into the Room? The Complementarity–Coordination Tradeoff for Young Founders
   Job market paper
   Abstract

   Young founders often face early-stage resource constraints. This study examines whether teaming with a senior founder helps young founders overcome financial constraints. I theorize a complementarity–coordination tradeoff: senior founders contribute accumulated experience and help signal venture quality, but age gaps within founding teams can also create coordination costs related to control, commitment, and slower decision-making. Using data on U.S. venture capital-backed startups, I find that startups with young founders receive larger initial VC investments when teaming with a senior founder. However, this financing benefit is weaker when the senior founder does not serve as CEO or maintains outside employment. Moreover, startups with young founders take longer to secure their first VC financing when teaming with a senior founder.

2. Closing the Racial Gap in Entrepreneurship: The Role of Spousal Public-Sector Jobs (with Hongyuan Xia)
   Winner, DRUID Steven Klepper Award for Best Young Scholar Paper
   Media mentions: Cornell Johnson News
   Abstract

   Black entrepreneurs are substantially underrepresented in the U.S. Prior research has primarily focused on the resource constraints they face. However, the financial risk of entrepreneurial entry is also salient for Black entrepreneurs. We argue that a spouse's public-sector job, characterized by stable pay and low layoff risk, can provide a financial safety net, thereby facilitating Black entrepreneurship. Using the 1990–2019 Current Population Survey (CPS) and the 1991–2019 Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), we find that the Black–white gap in self-employment is reduced by 1.7 percentage points (23.3%) when the spouse works in the public sector. This pattern emerges after the spouse's transition to public employment and is concentrated in families that are more sensitive to financial risk, such as those with mortgages. It also generalizes to alternative proxies for job security. By contrast, spousal salary and managerial position do not predict the same pattern, indicating the mechanism operates through risk sharing rather than direct resource transfer.

3. Legalization of Equity Crowdfunding and Venture Capital Investments (with Yuan Shi)