Zeyang Xue

PhD Candidate, Strategy & Innovation

Boston University, Questrom School of Business

Welcome! I am a PhD Candidate in Strategy & Innovation at Boston University, Questrom School of Business. I am on the 2026–2027 academic job market.

My research sits at the intersection of corporate governance, innovation, and entrepreneurship. It falls into two streams. The first explores how VC ownership structures and evaluator behavior affect firm strategy and performance. The second studies how government policies shape firm innovation strategy.

My job market paper examines how common venture capital ownership affects startup innovation. My work has been recognized as a finalist for the DRUID Steven Klepper Award and received a Best Paper Designation at the Academy of Management.

In my free time, I enjoy deep sea fishing and spending time with my cat, though my cat refuses to eat fish.

Research

Working Papers

Common Venture Capital Ownership and Startup Innovation (Job Market Paper)

Finalist, DRUID 2025 Steven Klepper Award for Best Young Scholar Paper

Abstract

Venture capital (VC)-backed startups are key drivers of innovation, yet little is known about how common VC ownership--when a VC investor invests in multiple startups operating in similar market spaces--shapes innovation outcomes. Common VC ownership creates a fundamental tension: it may facilitate knowledge flows across portfolio startups, but it may also heighten competitive exposure by increasing the risk of information leakage to rivals. Exploiting the staggered adoption of Corporate Opportunity Waivers (COWs) across nine U.S. states from 2000 to 2016 as quasi-exogenous variation in the feasibility of investing in competing startups, I estimate the causal effect of common VC ownership on startup innovation. I find that common VC ownership increases innovation on average: startups with greater exposure to common VC ownership produce more patents and higher-quality patents. Consistent with a positive knowledge flow mechanism, these gains are accompanied by higher patent cross-citations and greater technological proximity among portfolio rivals. The innovation benefits are stronger in industries with stronger intellectual property (IP) protection, where appropriability reduces imitation concerns, and weaker when a startup's common VC is geographically co-located with a rival portfolio company, where informal leakage risk is more salient. The findings have implications for startup innovation, VC investment strategy, and policy debates over common ownership and competition.

Acquisition Market Thickness and R&D Investment Incentives: Evidence from National Security Restrictions

(with John McKeon and Rosemarie Ziedonis)

R&R at Strategic Management Journal

Common Ownership, Firm Hiring, and the Allocation of Human Capital

(with Mario Leccese)

Are Female-led Firms Differentially Evaluated by the Market? Evidence from Equity Analysts

(with Laurina Zhang)

2025 AOM Annual Meeting Best Paper Designation

Do Government Contracts Help to Foster Entrepreneurial Firm Success? Evidence from U.S. Federal Government Procurement

(with Thomas Chemmanur, Yudong Liu, and Jiajie Xu)

Work in Progress

Leveling up versus Widening the Gap: The Implications of Silicon Valley Bank's Collapse for Tech Ventures' Social and Financial Capital

(with Anne ter Wal, Rosemarie Ziedonis, and Carlos J. Serrano)

Restricted Access, Divergent Paths: How Export Controls Reshape Innovation Architectures

(with Yufeng Xia)

Two Paths to Success: How Founder Background Shapes Startup Brand Trajectories

(with Jason Lin)

Zeyang Xue

Research

Teaching

CV