Does our ability to predict the performance of new ventures improve in the years after start-up? We investigate the growth and survival of 6247 new ventures that are tracked using the customer records at Barclays Bank. We put forward Gambler's Ruin as a simple theory for understanding new...

Several theories suggest that excessive fast growth may lead to failure. We explore survival across the growth rate distribution for a cohort of 6579 new ventures, tracked over their first 10 years, using customer records data from a major UK bank. We measure failure though termination of the...

Strategies for firm growth vary in terms of their degrees of novelty, uncertainty, and synergy. Modes of firm growth include replication (growth by ‘more of the same’), diversification, and internationalization. Growth strategies can be implemented using organic growth or through...