Summer PhD Workshop on Entrepreneurial Finance

Overview

Dates: Monday, June 8th to Friday, June 12th, 2026

Location: Nova SBE Haddad Entrepreneurship Institute (floor zero), Nova School of Business and Economics, Lisbon, Portugal

Co-organizers:

• Michael Ewens (Columbia Business School and NBER)
• Gilles Chemla (Imperial College, CNRS, and CEPR)
• Local organizer: Miguel Ferreira (Nova SBE)

Supporting institutions: Imperial College, WEFI, and RCEA

Past Programs

• 2025 Workshop — Paris Dauphine University
• 2024 Workshop — Imperial College London

Description

This week-long workshop follows the structure of the Entrepreneurial Finance PhD course described on this website with several modifications. The inaugural workshop was held in August 2024 at Imperial College (past program here) and the second was held in 2025 (past program here). The program covers major topics from the 6-week in-person course and highlights key institutional details required for successful entrepreneurial finance research. Several sessions focus on research methodology, key databases, opportunities to present ideas, and live data analysis examples. This workshop is not a substitute for the NBER Entrepreneurship Bootcamp. See the 2025 program for a preview of the format and content.

Lectures led by:

• Michael Ewens (Columbia)
• Gilles Chemla (Imperial College, CNRS, and CEPR)
• Rui Silva (Nova)
• Francisco Queiro (Nova)

Goals and Teaching Objectives

The workshop provides an overview of modern research in entrepreneurial finance and the foundation for success in producing research: mastering institutional details including definitions, industry norms, regulations, laws, databases, and disclosure rules.

Target Students

Students past their second year of PhD programs in economics, finance, strategy, management, or related fields. Preference given to applicants from outside top schools with faculty active in entrepreneurial finance and those outside the U.S.

Daily Program

All sessions are held at the Nova SBE Haddad Entrepreneurship Institute (floor zero) unless otherwise noted (e.g., group dinners).

Each day includes approximately 6 hours of class sessions, lunch, and two group dinners (Tuesday and Thursday).

Monday, June 8th

9:00 am – 10:30 am: Workshop intro and the entrepreneurial firm

Lecture, Mike

Readings:

• Hurst, Erik, and Benjamin Wild Pugsley. “What Do Small Businesses Do?” Brookings Papers on Economic Activity 2011.2 (2011): 73-118.
• Levine, R., & Rubinstein, Y. (2017). “Smart and illicit: who becomes an entrepreneur and do they earn more?” The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 132(2), 963-1018.

Break

11:00 am – 12:30 pm: Idea pairing meet-greet and institutional details

Lecture, Mike

Pair-share activity

Lunch: 12:30 – 2:00 pm (hosted by Nova SBE)

2:00 – 3:30 pm: Financing constraints overview

Lecture, Mike

Readings:

• Cagetti, Marco, and Mariacristina De Nardi. “Entrepreneurship, frictions, and wealth.” Journal of Political Economy 114.5 (2006): 835-870.
• Hombert, J., Schoar, A., Sraer, D., & Thesmar, D. (2020). “Can unemployment insurance spur entrepreneurial activity? Evidence from France.” The Journal of Finance, 75(3), 1247-1285.

Break

3:45 – 5:00 pm: Housing and banks

Lecture, Mike

Readings:

• Petersen, M.A. and Rajan, R.G. (2002) “Does Distance Still Matter? The Information Revolution in Small Business Lending,” The Journal of Finance, 57(6), pp. 2533-2570.
• Greenstone, M., Mas, A. and Nguyen, H.-L. (2020) “Do Credit Market Shocks Affect the Real Economy? Quasi-experimental Evidence from the Great Recession and ‘Normal’ Economic Times,” American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 12(1), pp. 200-225.
• Schmalz, M.C., Sraer, D.A. and Thesmar, D. (2017) “Housing Collateral and Entrepreneurship,” The Journal of Finance, 72(1), pp. 99-132.

Tuesday, June 9th

9:00 am – 10:30 am: Who are entrepreneurs?

Lecture, Rui

Readings:

• Bell, A., Chetty, R., Jaravel, X., Petkova, N., & Van Reenen, J. (2019). “Who Becomes an Inventor in America? The Importance of Exposure to Innovation.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 134(2), 647-713.
• Hvide, H.K. & Oyer, P. (2018). “Dinner Table Human Capital and Entrepreneurship.” NBER Working Paper.
• Hvide, H.K. & Oyer, P. (2025). “Who Becomes a Successful Entrepreneur? The Role of Early Industry Exposure.” The Review of Economics and Statistics.

Break

11:00 am – 12:30 pm: Student idea pitch sessions

Lunch: 12:30 – 2:00 pm (Individual)

2:00 – 3:30 pm: Who are entrepreneurs? (cont.)

Lecture, Rui

Readings:

• Azoulay, P., Jones, B.F., Kim, J.D., & Miranda, J. (2020). “Age and High-Growth Entrepreneurship.” American Economic Review: Insights, 2(1), 65-82.
• Moser, P. (2021). “Inequality in Science: Who Becomes a Star?” Working Paper.

Break

3:45 – 5:00 pm: Financial intermediaries

Lecture, Mike

Readings:

• Bernstein, S. et al. (2022) “Do Startups Benefit from Their Investors’ Reputation? Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment”
• Gompers, Paul A., Will Gornall, Steven N. Kaplan, and Ilya A. Strebulaev. “How do venture capitalists make decisions?” Journal of Financial Economics 135, no. 1 (2020): 169-190.
• Hsu, D. H. (2004). “What do entrepreneurs pay for venture capital affiliation?” The Journal of Finance, 59(4), 1805-1844.

Group dinner: 7:00 pm at Via Graça, R. Damasceno Monteiro 9 b, 1170-108 Lisboa

Wednesday, June 10th

9:00 am – 10:30 am: Causal inference in entrepreneurial finance

Lecture, Gilles

Readings:

• Banerjee, A., & Deaton, A. (2012). “Session III: Searching for answers with randomized experiments” [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Js-AxZcmr8
• Bowen III, D.E., Frésard, L., & Taillard, J.P. (2017). “What’s your identification strategy? Innovation in corporate finance research.” Management Science, 63(8), 2529-2548.
• Hennessy, C.A., & Chemla, G. (2022). “Signaling, instrumentation, and CFO decision-making.” Journal of Financial Economics, 144(3), 849-863.

Break

11:00 am – 12:30 pm: Crowdfunding and tokenization

Lecture, Gilles

Readings:

• Chemla, G., & Tinn, K. (2020). “Learning through crowdfunding.” Management Science, 66(5), 1783-1801.
• Li, J., & Mann, W. (2025). “Digital tokens and platform building.” The Review of Financial Studies, 38(7), 1921-1954.
• Chemla, G., & Tinn, K. (2026). “Digital Ownership: The Tokenization of Real-World Assets.” SSRN 6693219.

Lunch: 12:30 – 2:00 pm (Individual)

2:00 pm – 3:15 pm: AI in entrepreneurial finance

Lecture, Gilles

Readings:

• Bonelli, M. (2025). “Data-driven investors.” The Review of Financial Studies.
• Gupta, A., Qian, F., Simintzi, E., & Sun, Y. (2025). “Generative AI and Entrepreneurship.” SSRN 5971474.
• Chemla, G., & Tena, V. (2025). “AI Adoption, Incentives, and Firm Value in General Equilibrium.” SSRN 5997775.

Break

3:45 pm – 5:00 pm: Student pitch session

Activity, Gilles and Mike

Thursday, June 11th

9:00 am – 10:30 am: Entrepreneurship and aggregate productivity

Lecture, Francisco

Readings:

• Lucas, R.E., Jr. (1978). “On the Size Distribution of Business Firms.” The Bell Journal of Economics, 9(2), 508-523.
• Queiró, F. (2022). “Entrepreneurial Human Capital and Firm Dynamics.” The Review of Economic Studies, 89(4), 2061-2100.
• Engbom, N., Malmberg, H., Porzio, T., Rossi, F., & Schoellman, T. (2025). “Economic Development According to Chandler.” NBER Working Paper No. 34483.

Break

11:00 am – 12:00 pm: Institutional details session

Lecture, Mike

Lunch: 12:30 – 2:00 pm (Individual)

2:00 pm – 3:30 pm: Open topics session

Activity, Mike

Two topics chosen from the pre-workshop student interest survey:

1. Pruning research ideas
2. Finding co-authors

Break

3:45 – 5:00 pm: Contracts

Lecture, Mike

Readings:

• Kaplan, S.N. and Strömberg, P. (2004) “Characteristics, Contracts, and Actions: Evidence from Venture Capitalist Analyses,” The Journal of Finance, 59(5), pp. 2177-2210.
• Robb, A.M. and Robinson, D.T. (2014) “The Capital Structure Decisions of New Firms,” The Review of Financial Studies, 27(1), pp. 153-179.

Group dinner: 7:00 pm at Casa da Dízima, R. Costa Pinto 17, 2770-046 Paço de Arcos

Friday, June 12th

9:00 – 11:00 am: Retail investors in private equity and the future of entrepreneurial finance

Lecture, Mike

Readings:

• Balloch, C., Mainardi, F., Oh, S., & Vokata, P. (2025). “Democratizing Private Markets: Private Equity Performance of Individual Investors.”
• Ewens, M., & Faber, J. “Liquid Claims on Illiquid Assets: The Economics of Retail Access to Private Markets.” Working paper.

Workshop end

Student Expectations and Deliverables

Students must attend all sessions and are encouraged to participate. Each student submits a short research proposal by week’s end; faculty provide comments after the course.

Admission and Costs

Who Should Apply

Students in their PhD’s third, fourth, or fifth year, having completed basic core economics and/or finance classes.

Application Timeline

• Application deadline: January 15th, 2026 at 12 pm EDT
• Admission decisions: February 1, 2026
• Registration fees due: April 15th ($400 non-refundable)

How to Apply

Complete the application form requiring biographical information, short cover letter, resume, and two short reference emails.

Cost

$800 covering administrative costs and group meals. Students must secure their own accommodation (options available to admitted students).

FAQ

Is this affiliated with Columbia University, Imperial College, or Nova SBE? No, the course has no connection to any university and is independently run by participating faculty.

Will there be credit or a certificate? No, but students who complete the course will be listed on the course website.

Where is the application form? The application is available here.

Will there be a remote or Zoom option? No.

How are visas handled? A form letter is available to facilitate visa issues.

What if I cannot make it this year? If successful, the workshop is planned annually in Europe with different institutions each summer (likely in June long-term).

For questions, contact Prof. Mike Ewens at [email protected].