Abstract
We analyze the effects of the pre-institutional individual stakeholders on the eventual success of the startups. We show that the quantity and experience of founding and non-founding directors and other individual investors affect the startup's type of, and value at, exit. While for founding and non-founding directors it is the number, for the other individual investors it is the presence of experienced business angels that significantly influences success. We also report indirect effects of the same pre-institutional individual stakeholder attributes on success. Indeed, they also affect the characteristics of the first venture capital investors, which in turn influence success.