Database, Methodological Tools, and Research Opportunities: Creative Destruction Lab and Early-Stage Technology Ventures

Amir Sariri; Evgenia Gatov; Geneva Neal; Kyle Robinson; Sonia Sennik; Wei Yang Tham; Michael Vertolli; Avi Goldfarb

doi:10.3386/w34127

Database, Methodological Tools, and Research Opportunities: Creative Destruction Lab and Early-Stage Technology Ventures

Amir Sariri, Evgenia Gatov, Geneva Neal, Kyle Robinson, Sonia Sennik, Wei Yang Tham, Michael Vertolli & Avi Goldfarb

Working Paper 34127

DOI 10.3386/w34127

Issue Date August 2025

We introduce a new dataset built from a global non-profit startup program for early-stage high-technology startups called Creative Destruction Lab (CDL). The early stages of startup formation remain one of the least understood aspects of firm growth. The nature of this program and the data collected from its operations are well suited to investigate open questions in entrepreneurial strategy, entrepreneurial finance, advice, and technology transfer. This dataset combines three critical features for rigorous empirical research. First, the large, multi-year sample includes roughly 15,000 applicants, 9,000 founders in admitted startups, and nearly 2,000 mentors. Second, CDL recognized the academic value from the outset and built enterprise IT linking venture-level characteristics, structured longitudinal records of firm development and operations, and unstructured verbatim transcripts of mentor–founder discussions. Third, the data cover 27 technological domains such as therapeutics and quantum computing. This paper provides an overview of the setting from which data is collected, a high-level description of available data, and information on how to access these data for research.

This research was primarily funded by Canada's Strategic Innovation Fund (812-811949). Additional support from Creative Destruction Lab and the University of Toronto's Acceleration Consortium. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Amir Sariri
Authors have performed paid work for Creative Destruction Lab

Geneva Neal
I am employed by CDL, and worked on this project as part of my responsibilities.

Kyle Robinson
I am employed by CDL, and worked on this project as part of my responsibilities.

Sonia Sennik
I am employed by CDL, and worked on this project as part of my responsibilities.

Avi Goldfarb
I am the chief data scientist at CDL. One of my responsibilities in that role is the CDL data set. Further disclosure below.

I have received grants supporting my research from multiple sources including the Sloan Foundation (ongoing), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (ongoing), the Acceleration Consortium (ongoing), the National Science Foundation (most recently 2018), Google (most recently 2009), WPP (most recently 2009), the Net Institute (most recently 2007), Bell Canada (most recently 2006), Plurimus Corporation (most recently 2001), and the Social Science Research Council (most recently 2000). I run a consulting company, Goldfarb Analytics Corporation, that advises organizations on digital and A.I. strategy, including work on legal cases involving large technology companies. Clients have included Adobe, CIBC, the Competition Bureau of Canada, Cornerstone Research (on matters of competition and privacy in the ad tech space), Epic Games (as an expert witness to the court in Australian cases against Google and Apple), Meta/Facebook, the Federal Trade Commission, Keystone Strategy (on AI strategy and on matters of competition in the ad tech space), Microsoft, and RBC. I have given lectures—sometimes paid—at several organizations including Amazon, Bloomberg, Hearst, Hospital for Sick Children, INTACT, Meta/Facebook, Microsoft, Netflix, Plus Company, ScotiaBank, TD, Teradata, and several private equity and venture capital firms. I serve on the scientific advisory board of EnvisionX Capital, a venture capital firm. I am Chief Data Scientist at the Creative Destruction Lab, a non-profit organization that helps science-based startups to scale. I served on the steering committee of the CDL-Rapid Screening Consortium, a corporate- and government-funded not-for-profit endeavour to build a scalable workplace COVID screening system to facilitate a return to normal. I also hold shares in many large technology companies as part of a well-balanced investment portfolio. I also hold investments in several AI-focused startups.
MARC RIS BibTeΧ

Database, Methodological Tools, and Research Opportunities: Creative Destruction Lab and Early-Stage Technology Ventures

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