Benjamin Hallen
- Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship Neal and Jan Dempsey Endowed Professor
Education
- PhD Stanford University (2007)
- MS University of Virginia (2002)
- BS University of Virginia (2000)
Academic Expertise
- accelerators
- artificial intelligence
- entrepreneurship
- innovation
- scaling
- technology strategy
- venture capital
Positions Held
- At the University of Washington since 2014
- Assistant Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship, London Business School, 2011-2014
- Assistant Professor of Management and Organization, Robert H. Smith School, University of Maryland, 2007-2011
- Co-founder, Chief Technology Officer, and Interim CEO, Topik Solutions, 2000-2002
Selected Publications
“Are Seed Accelerators Status Springboards for Startups? Or Sand Traps?“
Hallen, Benjamin, Susan Cohen, and Sung Ho Park, (forthcoming). Strategic Management Journal.
“Entrepreneurial Network Evolution: Explicating the Structural Localism and Agentic Network Change Distinction“
Hallen, Benjamin, Jason Davis, and Alex Murray, (2020). Academy of Management Annals, Vol. 14(2), pp. 1-36.
“Do Accelerators Work? If So, How?“
Hallen, Benjamin, Susan Cohen, and Christopher Bingham, (2020). Organization Science, Vol. 31(2), pp. 378-414.
“The Role of Accelerators in Mitigating Bounded Rationality in New Ventures“
Cohen, S., Bingham, C., Hallen, B., (2019). Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 64(4), pp. 810-854.
“Entrepreneurial beacons: The Yale endowment, run‐ups, and the growth of venture capital“
Bermiss, Y., Hallen, B., McDonald, R., and Pahnke, E. (All authors contributed equally and are listed alphabetically), (2017). Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 38, pp. 545-565.
“The Conditional Importance of Prior Ties: A Group-Level Analysis of Venture Capital Syndication“
Zhang, L., Gupta, A.K., and Hallen, B.L., (2017). Academy of Management Journal.
“When Do Entrepreneurs Accurately Evaluate Venture Capital Firm’s Track Records? A Bounded Rationality Perspective“
Hallen, B. & Pahnke, E.C., (2016). Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 59(5), pp. 1535-1560.
“Exposed: Venture Capital, Competitor Ties, and Entrepreneurial Innovation“
Pahnke, E., McDonald, R., Wang, D., Hallen, B., (2015). Academy of Management Journal.
“How do Social Defenses Work? A Resource Dependence Lens on Technology Ventures, Venture Capitalists, and Corporate Relationships“
Hallen, B.L., Katila, R., & Rosenberger, J.D., (2014). Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 57(4), pp. 1078-1101.
“Catalyzing Strategies and Efficient Tie Formation: How Entrepreneurs Obtain Venture Capital Ties“
Hallen, B.L., & Eisenhardt, K.M., (2012). Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 55(1), pp. 35-70.
“The Causes and Consequences of the Initial Network Positions of New Organizations: From Whom do Entrepreneurs Receive Investments“
Hallen, B.J., (2008). Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 53, pp. 685–718.
Working Papers
- Tidhar, Ron, Benjamin Hallen, and Kathleen Eisenhardt (2023) “Measure Twice, Cut Once: Achieving Exceptional Growth in Nascent Online Fashion Markets”
- Murray, Alex, Benjamin Hallen, and Suresh Kotha (2023) “How do Nascent Organizations Quickly and Accurately Learn New Skills and Capabilities? A Study of Resource Mobilization via Crowdfunding”
- Sung Ho Park, Hallen, Benjamin, and Suresh Kotha (2023) “What Drives Early-Stage Venture Valuations? A Variance-Decomposition Analysis”
Honors and Awards
- Named one of "Best 40 Under 40 Professors", Poets & Quants. Global listing of Top Business School Professors under the age of 40. 2017.
- MS in Entrepreneurship Faculty of the Quarter Award: 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023
- Winner of "Dean's Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching", Foster School of Business, 2018.
- Technology Management MBA Teaching in Excellence Award (One of top faculty in program by student vote): 2015, 2016, 2017
- Academy of Management's Technology and Innovation Management Division Best Paper Award, 2014
Courses Taught
- I teach courses on how entrepreneurs can accelerate and scale new businesses. I teach the Executive MBA Capstone, helped create and launch Foster's MS in Entrepreneurship (where I teach a course on Strategies for Scaling and Funding), and co-developed the science-based entrepreneurship course for the Creative Destruction Lab. I also teach executive courses on innovation, digital transformation, and technology strategy. I frequently develop my own cases and center discussion around frameworks that are both actionable and evidence-based.