Paper Accepted for Publication in Organization Science

The article, titled “Beefing IT up for your Investor? Engagement with Open Source Communities, Innovation and Startup Funding: Evidence from GitHub”, explores how nascent firms’ engagement with open source communities impacts innovation and their ability to secure funding.

The study links data on 160,065 U.S. startups from Crunchbase to their activities on GitHub, the open source software development platform. Using a matched sample of firms with and without GitHub activities, the authors employ difference-in-differences models to show that early-stage startups engaging with open source communities are significantly more likely to attract funding. This effect is particularly pronounced for startups developing novel technologies, though it is weaker for those using GitHub primarily for internal development.

The research highlights potential trade-offs between engaging with open source communities and appropriability, emphasizing the role of external knowledge access in fostering innovation and product development. The findings underline the strategic importance of open source engagement for startups navigating early growth stages.

The paper can be accessed on the publisher’s website: https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/10.1287/orsc.2023.18348

This research was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (project 100013_197807).