Survival of family start-ups seeking equity crowdfunding: family nuances in entrepreneurial teams

The phenomenon of family members launching start-ups together, known as family start-ups, has garnered increasing scholarly attention. This study investigates the value of family ties, providing insights into the diversity and performance of family start-ups, by examining their survival in equity crowdfunding markets—a vital yet underexplored area. While prior research has linked entrepreneurial team composition to start-up survival in equity crowdfunding, this paper advances the literature by focusing on the nuances of family embeddedness. We hypothesize the effects of such nuances on the survival of start-ups initiated by family versus non-family teams, by same-generation versus inter-generation family teams, and by siblings versus spousal same-generation family teams. Using data from the UK equity crowdfunding market, our findings reveal significant effects of family embeddedness nuances on start-up survival. This research contributes to the understanding of family start-ups by intersecting equity financing, entrepreneurship, and family embeddedness.