- _Has contacted an outside investor to see if they are interested in making an investment:_ A dummy variable taking the value one if, in the last year, the firm has contacted an outside investor to see if they are interested in making an investment, and zero otherwise. Firms that say they are not interested in investment and that do not answer this question are assumed to have not contacted an investor. Coded as zero for closed firms.

- _Has made a pitch to outside investors outside of our program:_ A dummy variable taking the value one if, in the past year, the firm made a pitch to outside investors at an event. Firms were explicitly asked to exclude pitches made during the semi‐finals and finals of the Pioneers program. Firms that say they are not interested in outside investment are assumed not to have made a pitch.  It is coded as zero otherwise, including if the firm is closed.

- _Have a mentor or external expert supporting them to obtain external financing:_ a dummy variable that takes the value one if the firm has a mentor or external expert helping them to raise funding, and is zero otherwise, including if the firm is closed.

- _Entered into negotiations with outside investor since August 2015:_ a dummy variable which takes the value one if the firm has entered into negotiations with any outside investor since August 2015, and zero otherwise. It is coded as zero if the firm is closed. Firms which have been sold, or which have received outside equity investments, and which did not answer this question, are assumed to have entered into negotiations.

_External investment:_ this is an average of standardized z‐scores of the following variables<sup>26</sup> :

- _Taken on new debt since August 2015:_ a dummy variable which takes value one if the firm has taken on new debt since August 2015, and zero otherwise. It is assumed to be zero for firms closed.

- _Have made a deal with an outside investor since August 2015:_ a dummy variable which takes value one if the firm has made a deal with an outside investor (who is not family or friends) since August 2015, and zero otherwise. This takes value one if the firm has been sold, and zero if the firm has closed before being sold.

- _Received at least 25,000 euros in new outside investment since August 2015:_ a dummy variable that takes value one if the firm has received at least 25,000 euros in outside investment since August 2015, and zero otherwise. It is set at zero for firms that have closed and not been sold for more than 25,000 euros.

- _Received incubator/accelerator grant since August 2015:_ a dummy variable that takes the value one if the firm has received a grant from an incubator or accelerator since August 2015, and zero otherwise.

_Have made a deal with an outside investor since August 2015:_ a dummy variable which takes value one if the firm has made a deal with an outside investor (who is not family or friends) since August 2015, and zero otherwise. This takes value one if the firm has been sold, and zero if the firm has closed before being sold. Note that this is also considered as part of the external investment index, but given its role as a

> 26 Our pre‐analysis plan also originally added a fifth variable to this index: total amount of outside investment received. However, after our first follow‐up survey found firms were very reluctant to specify the exact amount of funding received, this question was dropped from the second follow‐up survey, and so is not included in the overall index.

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