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HOW DO START-UP FIRMS FINANCE THEIR ASSETS:

EVIDENCE FROM THE KAUFFMAN FIRM SURVEYS

Rebel A. ColeDePaul University

Tatyana SokolykBrock University

Global Finance ConferenceChicago, IL USAMay 24th, 2012

Introduction:

• How do start-up firms finance their assets?

• How does the use of credit change from the firm’s start-up through the first critical years of business growth and development?

• These are important questions facing a nascent entrepreneur as she seeks to give birth, and then grow and develop a new company.

• Yet, remarkably little is known about the use of credit by start-up and young firms, primarily because of the paucity of data on such firms.

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Introduction:• In this study, we are able to provide some answers to these

questions by analyzing data from a relatively new source of information: the Kauffman Firm Surveys (“KFS”).

• The KFS tracks a nationally representative sample of U.S. start-up firms from 2004 with annual surveys covering 2004 – 2010.

• We analyze the use of credit by entrepreneurial firms at the time of their establishment, and examine how this changes during the first years of operations.

• With this unique dataset, we are able to test the fundamental theories of capital structure and examine the substitutability and connections among the alternative sources of credit finance for closely held start-up firms.

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Introduction:• Why is this research important?

• According to the IRS, there are more than 30 million businesses in the U.S., of which 99.97% are privately held.

• According to the SBA, small businesses account for half of all U.S. private-sector employment and produced 64% of net job growth in the U.S. between 1993 and 2008.

• Also, recent Census research finds that the majority of all job creation is accounted for by start-up firms at their creation; and that majority of job destruction is accounted for by start-up firms during their early years.

• Therefore, a better understanding of what types of firms use credit and the sources of credit finance can help policymakers to take actions that will lead to more jobs and faster economic growth.

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Summary:

• Our study can be summarized as follows:

• First, we examine firms that use no credit to finance their assets.

• We find that about 25% of firms report 100% equity financing of their initial assets.

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Summary

• Second, for the remaining 75% of start-ups, we analyze their sources of credit, which we separate into three groups—trade credit, personal credit, and business credit.

• At start-up, we find that the majority of firms (55%) rely upon personal credit, but that a sizable fraction of firms also use business credit (44%) and trade credit (24%).

• As firms develop, they decrease the use of personal credit and increase the use of business credit.

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Summary

• We also examine which firm and owner characteristics explain a start-up’s decisions to use credit and, conditional upon using credit, what types to use.

• We find that firms are more likely to use credit at start-up when they:

– are larger,

– are more profitable,

– are more liquid,

– have more tangible assets; and

– when their primary owner has more experience and more education., and is white.

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Summary• Among firms that use credit, we find that:

– larger firms are more likely to use trade and business credit and but less likely to use personal credit;

– firms with more current and tangible assets are more likely to use both trade and business credit but are less likely to use personal credit;

– firms with better credit scores are more likely to use business credit;

– corporations are more likely to use both trade and business credit but are less likely to use personal credit;

– firms with multiple owners are more likely to use business credit but are less likely to use personal credit;

– owners with more prior business start-ups are less likely to use personal credit; and

– female owners are more likely to use personal credit.

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Related Literature:Capital Structure of Privately Held Firms:• Berger and Udell (JBF 1998)

• Cole (SBA Research Study 2010)

• Cole (FM 2012 forthcoming)

• Robb and Robinson (RFS 2012 forthcoming)

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Related Literature:Trade Credit at Privately Held Firms:• Petersen and Rajan (RFS 1997)

• Berger and Udell (JBF 1998)

• Cunat (RFS 2007)

• Cole (SBA Research Study 2010)

• Giannetti et al. (RFS 2011)

• Robb and Robinson (RFS 2012 forthcoming)

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Data: Kauffman Firm Surveys (KFS)

• The KFS is the largest and most comprehensive dataset on U.S. start-up firms, providing information on firms’ use of credit, as well as various firm and owner characteristics

• It tracks a panel of 4,928 U.S. businesses established during 2004, providing information about the firm in the year of its inception and, for those firms that survive, providing information about the firm in each subsequent year.

• Firms are a stratified random sample of all U.S. start-ups in 2004.

• As of year-end 2011, data were available for five follow-up samples, providing information for 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009, as well as the initial year of 2004.

• Data for 2010 were released earlier this year.

• Plans are in place for follow-up surveys for at least two additional years.

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Credit Categories• Any Credit: Firm reported that it used either trade credit, business

credit, or personal credit

• Trade Credit: Firm reported that it used trade credit during the reference year

• Business Credit: includes either of the following categories: business bank loan, business credit line, business loan from nonbank institutions, business credit card, business credit card issued on owner’s name, business loan from the government, business loan from other businesses, business loan from other sources.

• Personal Credit: includes either of the following categories: personal bank loan by the primary owner, personal bank loan by other owners, the primary owner’s personal credit card used for business purposes, and the other owners’ personal credit cards used for business purposes.

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2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 200920%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Credit (any type)

Trade Credit

Business Credit

Personal Credit

Year

% U

se o

f Cre

dit

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Table 2: Use of Credit by Start-Ups by Year

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Table 2: Use of Business Credit

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 20095%

10%15%20%25%30%35%40%45%50%

Business Credit Card Owner Name

Business Credit Card

Business Credit Line

Business Bank Loan

Year

% U

se o

f Cre

dit

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Table 2: Use of Personal Credit

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 20090%5%

10%15%20%25%30%35%40%45%50%

Personal Bank Loan by Primary Owner

Personal Bank Loan by Other Owners

Primary Owner's Credit Card

Other Owner's Credit Card

Year

% U

se o

f Cre

dit

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009-5%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

Trade Credit OnlyBusiness Credit OnlyPersonal Credit Only

Year

% U

se o

f Cre

dit

Table 2: Panel B

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Table 2: Exclusive Use of Credit by Type

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Table 2: Use of Multiple Types of Credit

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 20090%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%Table 2 Panel C

Trade Credit and Business Credit

Trade Credit and Personal Credit

Business Credit and Personal Credit

Trade, Business, and Personal Credit

Years

Usa

ge o

f cre

dit

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Table 3: Amounts of Credit Used

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009$0

$10,000 $20,000 $30,000 $40,000 $50,000 $60,000 $70,000 $80,000 $90,000

$100,000

Amount of Trade Credit

Amount of Business Credit

Amount of Personal Credit

Total Amount of Credit

Year

$ U

se o

f Cre

dit

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Table 7:Determinants of Credit Use at Start-Up:Firm Characteristics (Odds Ratios)

Variable Any Type of Credit

Trade Credit

Business Credit

Personal Credit

ln (Revenue+1) 1.079*** 1.096*** 1.024** 0.975**

ROA 1.043** 0.001 624.486 0.001

ln (Cash+1) 1.037** 1.013 1.055*** 0.98

ln (Current Assets+1) 1.054*** 1.084*** 1.041*** 0.994

ln (Tangible Assets+1) 1.061*** 1.048*** 1.031** 1.024

Corp 1.310** 1.282* 1.560*** 0.774**

Multiple Owners 1.002 1.074 1.336*** 0.744***

Credit Risk 0.801*** 0.911 0.844** 1.124Rural 0.833 1.322* 0.964 0.903

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Table 7: Determinants of Credit Use at Start-Up:Owner Characteristics (Odds Ratios)

Variable Any Type of Credit

Trade Credit

Business Credit

Personal Credit

ln (Owner Age) 0.991 0.603** 1.012 1.108

ln(Prior Experience+1) 0.823*** 1.085 0.958 0.925

Prior Start-ups 1.004 1.02 0.973 0.968**

Female 0.860 0.800 0.844 1.348**

Asian 0.859 0.775 1.177 1.525

Black 0.385*** 0.987 1.017 0.652*

Hispanic 0.868 0.712 0.845 0.946

Other Race 1.111 1.618 1.370 1.560College Education 1.335* 1.141 1.033 1.349*

Graduate Degree 2.609*** 1.085 1.152 1.197

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Table 8: Determinants of Percentages of Total Liabilities Financed by Business, Personal and Trade Credit• We also present new evidence on the determinants of

the percentages of total liabilities financed by business, personal and trade credit.

• You can find these in Table 8 of our manuscript, which you can download from SSRN.

• For the sake of brevity, I will not discuss them today.

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Conclusions:• In this study, we use data from the Kauffman Firm Survey to analyze

how U.S. start-up firms finance their assets. Our study contributes, in several important ways, to both the entrepreneurship and finance literatures.

• First, we contribute to the growing literature that analyzes data on start-up firms from the Kauffman Firm Survey. (See, e.g., Coleman and Robb 2009; Fairlie and Robb 2009; Cole 2011; Coleman and Robb, 2011; Robb and Watson, 2011; and Robb and Robinson, 2012). We present new evidence on the use of credit by start-up firms during their first five years of existence.

• Second, we contribute to the strand of the capital-structure literature that focuses on privately held firms. (See, e.g., Ang, 1992; Berger and Udell, 1998; Cole, 2008; Ang, Cole and Lawson, 2010; and Robb and Robinson, 2012). We provide new evidence on the mix of credit upon which privately held firms rely at start-up and during their first five years of life.

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Conclusions:• Third, we contribute to the trade-credit literature on privately

held firms. (See, e.g., Petersen and Rajan, 1997; Cunat, 2007; Cole, 2010; and Giannetti et al., 2011.) We document the importance of trade credit to start-up firms during their first five years of life, including its explosive growth during the first year.

• Finally, we provide new evidence to the growing literature on zero-debt firms. (See, e.g., Strebulaev, 2006; and Cole, 2012). We document that about 25% of privately held firms are financed exclusively with owners’ equity at start-up, and that this percentage changes by very little during the firms’ first five years of life.

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