Novice, serial and portfolio entrepreneur behaviour and contributions

Policy-makers and practitioners are considering whether to allocate resources towards portfolio and serial entrepreneurs, as well as the provision of additional initiatives to increase the pool of novice entrepreneurs. To inform this policy debate, univariate statistical tests were used to test for differences between 354 firms owned by novice, serial and portfolio entrepreneurs in Scotland. Also, univariate tests were conducted to compare responses made by pairwise groups of entrepreneurs. No significant differences were detected between the three types of entrepreneurs with regard to several entrepreneur and firm demographic characteristics. Additional analysis revealed that portfolio entrepreneurs have more diverse experiences, and more resources than serial or novice entrepreneurs. On average, portfolio entrepreneurs appear to offer more attractive growth prospects than other entrepreneurs.