agency theory, assigning managers stock options aligns their interests with the interests of the owners of the firm. This … managerial incentives with the owners' goals, as agency theory predicts, it also grants top managers residual control rights to … subsequent competitive advantage. This theory of entrepreneurial governance is tested using patent ownership as a proxy for both …

innovation as well as the project's feasibility. Our analysis of 900 nascent entrepreneurs finds that patents and prototypes … increase the likelihood of obtaining equity finance. Thus, if signals are credible, innovation positively impacts external … that the relation between finance and innovation depends on the stage of a start-up lifecycle. …