Contact

University of Maryland
R.H. Smith School of Business
4558 Van Munching Hall
College Park, MD 20742

Phone: 301.405.9495
Email: bhallen@rhsmith.umd.edu
Department webpage

Education

PhD in Strategy, Organizations, and Entrepreneurship - Stanford University (MS&E)
M.C.S. in Computer Science - University of Virginia
B.S. in Electrical Engineering - University of Virginia
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Published Research

The Causes and Consequences of the Initial Network Positions of New Organizations: From Whom do Entrepreneurs Receive Investments
Administrative Science Quarterly (December 2008)
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Abstract:
This paper examines the mechanisms by which organizations establish their initial network positions, or sets of network ties. Although there has been significant research on the evolution of organizational network positions, how a new organization establishes its original network position has received more limited attention. I attempt to redress this imbalance using two competing logics, one based on the previously developed network ties and human capital of a new organization's founders and the other based on a new organization's early accomplishments. I test these logics in a study of venture capitalists and other investment organizations forming investment ties with (e.g., investing in) 92 Internet security ventures. In contrast to the literature on network position evolution, I find that new organizations take multiple paths to their initial network positions, with which path an organization takes being determined by when it forms its first ties.

Working Papers

Catalyzing Strategies: How Entrepreneurs Accelerate Inter-Organizational Relationship Formation to Secure Professional Investments
Joint with Kathleen Eisenhardt (Stanford University)
Currently under review
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Abstract:
Although inter-organizational relationships are crucial for new organizations, the behavioral strategies that entrepreneurs actually use to form such relationships are relatively unexplored. Building on fine-grained field data from 9 Internet security ventures receiving equity investments from professional investors, we induct a theoretical framework that addresses how entrepreneurs overcome the tendency of potential partners to wait to commit. Specifically, entrepreneurs successfully form relationships when they engage in four catalyzing strategies: they casually date potential partners in advance (not approaching potential partners when a tie is needed), synchronize pursuing relationships with proofpoints of progress (not timing around resource needs), actively create competition by crafting credible alternatives (not passively waiting for potential partners to commit), and focus on realistic potential partners by scrutinizing interest (not taking professed interest at face value). Collectively, these catalyzing strategies accelerate relationship formation by unlocking the value of network ties and information signals. Overall, our study contributes a more textured view of successful entrepreneurial relationship formation to the literature on inter-organizational relationship formation. Moreover, our findings suggest a duality to network ties and information signals, such that their value lies intertwined in the simple possession of such ties and signals and the concurrent use of complementary catalyzing strategies.


Individuals and Organizations as Competing Economic Actors: A Comparison of "Super" Angels and Venture Capitalists as Early-Stage Venture Investors
Joint with Rory McDonald (Stanford University)
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Abstract:
Research traditions such as the Carnegie school and transaction cost economics have sought to explain the “theory of the firm” as to why organizations exist and the scope of their horizontal and vertical boundaries. Yet this literature generally implies that markets are likely to be primarily occupied either by organizations or by independent individuals. In many markets, though, organizations and individuals offer similar services and are thus in competition with one another (e.g., legal services, strategy consulting, public relations, etc). Surprisingly, extant literature lacks a theory that compares and contrasts the relative scale, scope, positioning, and quality of these two social actors when they jointly compete in such markets. We develop such a theory and empirically test it in the context of venture capital firms (organizations) and “super angels” (individuals) investing in early-stage ventures. Overall, we argue and show that although independent individuals are unlikely to undertake the same range or complexity of activities as organizations, individuals are generally of greater quality relative to their more limited scale and scope. We further contribute to the entrepreneurial finance literature the insight that the top “super angels” have quality-levels statistically indistinguishable from those of the top venture capital firms.