# SZYDLOWSKI, Martin

**Source**: https://bm.hkust.edu.hk/faculty/szydlowski-martin
**Parent**: https://bm.hkust.edu.hk/bizinsight/innovation-and-entrepreneurship

SZYDLOWSKI, Martin

Associate Professor

Department of Economics

Department of Finance

[View Profile](https://econ.hkust.edu.hk/faculty-and-staff/directory/mszydlowski)

### Recent Activities

LI, Xuelin

[SZYDLOWSKI, Martin](https://bm.hkust.edu.hk/faculty/szydlowski-martin)

[Aggressive Pivots and Entrepreneurial Skill](https://bm.hkust.edu.hk/bizinsight/2026/01/aggressive-pivots-and-entrepreneurial-skill)

We study pivots as signaling devices in a dynamic experimentation model. An entrepreneur receives funding from an investor and has private information about a project, which requires costly experimentation to succeed. The entrepreneur has a real option to pivot, i.e., to abandon the project and to start a new one. Investors learn about the project from the
...
[Read More](https://bm.hkust.edu.hk/bizinsight/2026/01/aggressive-pivots-and-entrepreneurial-skill)

[ [Innovation and Entrepreneurship](https://bm.hkust.edu.hk/bizinsight/innovation-and-entrepreneurship "Innovation and Entrepreneurship") ]

[Read Full Paper](https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/mic.20240075)

[SZYDLOWSKI, Martin](https://bm.hkust.edu.hk/faculty/szydlowski-martin)

[Harnessing the Overconfidence of the Crowd: A Theory of SPACs](https://bm.hkust.edu.hk/bizinsight/2024/10/harnessing-overconfidence-crowd-theory-spacs)

[Economics](https://bm.hkust.edu.hk/bizinsight/tag/economics)

[SPAC](https://bm.hkust.edu.hk/bizinsight/tag/spac)

[Shares](https://bm.hkust.edu.hk/bizinsight/tag/shares)

Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) are blank check companies that raise funds through initial public offerings (IPOs) to merge with private firms. In 2021, the U.S. saw a surge in SPAC deals, with 613 IPOs raising over $161 billion. This rise in popularity contrasts with SPACs mixed performance, which has caught the attention of regulators. We
...
[Read More](https://bm.hkust.edu.hk/bizinsight/2024/10/harnessing-overconfidence-crowd-theory-spacs)

[ [BizTalks](https://bm.hkust.edu.hk/bizinsight/biztalks "BizTalks") ]

[Watch Video](https://video.ust.hk/watch?video=88FF8D9F56E38503&embed=Y)
[Read Full Paper](https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3930346)