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Early-Stage Entrepreneurship: Key Indicators, Summary Index, and Methodology

This paper lays out the approach used to create a series of four standalone indicators on early-stage entrepreneurship as well as a comprehensive summary index. These measures form the Kauffman Indicators of Early-Stage Entrepreneurship.

Written by Robert Fairlie and Sameeksha Desai

Abstract: Entrepreneurship is a process and a series of dynamic steps, rather than a binary or static outcome. To provide more granular insights into the early stages of entrepreneurship, we elaborate on four indicators and a summary index capturing different dimensions of entrepreneurial activity within the population and within new businesses. The purpose of these indicators is to provide simple, interpretable, and comparable insight to technical and non-technical user audiences.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, indicators, early-stage, rate of new entrepreneurs, first year survival, jobs, opportunity share

Acknowledgements: We thank A.J. Herrmann, Travis Howe, Hayden Murray, and Derek Ozal for their feedback.

Research Working Papers have not necessarily been peer-reviewed, and are made available by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to share research and encourage discussion. The views and findings expressed herein are those of the authors and do not reflect the official views of the Kauffman Foundation.

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