Camille Hebert

I am an Assistant Professor of Finance at the University of Toronto.

Primary fields of research:

Corporate Finance
Entrepreneurship
Labor and Finance

Email: camille.hebert@rotman.utoronto.ca

Curriculum Vitae | SSRN | Google Scholar

Contact information:

Rotman School of Management

105 St. George Street

Toronto, ON, M5S 2E8, Canada

I co-organize the Workshop on Entrepreneurial Finance and Innovation (WEFI), a bi-weekly virtual workshop featuring research in entrepreneurial finance and innovation, alongside Michael Ewens, Song Ma, and Melanie Wallskog.

Published Papers:

Gender Stereotypes and Entrepreneur Financing, Review of Financial Studies (2026)

Best Paper Award at the Miami Behavioral Finance Conference 2019

Cubist Systematic Strategies PhD Candidate Award for Outstanding Research, WFA 2019

Abstract: I document a significant gender gap in entrepreneurs' access to early-stage equity financing. Using unique administrative data on French startups, I show that this gap is particularly pronounced in male-dominated sectors. Controlling for a comprehensive set of entrepreneur and startup characteristics -- including demographics, backgrounds, and motivations - accounts for 42% of the average gender gap. However, in male-dominated sectors, 80% of the gap remains unexplained. Growth-oriented female entrepreneurs rely more heavily on bank loans, substituting equity with debt. Finally, VC-backed female-founded startups outperform their male counterparts in male-dominated sectors. These findings suggest that context-dependent stereotypes influence equity financing decisions.

Build or Buy? Human Capital and Corporate Diversification with Paul Beaumont and Victor Lyonnet, Review of Financial Studies (2025)

Featured in: Rotman Insight Hub

Best Student Paper Award, 5th ECGC workshop on Governance and Control

Abstract: Why do some firms enter a new sector by building on their resources (``build'') while others buy an existing company (``buy'')? Using French administrative data, we propose a measure of human capital distance between a firm and a sector of entry. We show that firms build in close sectors and buy in distant sectors in terms of human capital. We establish causality using a shift-share instrument. Firms build by hiring new workers, which is more costly in distant sectors because it requires more organizational skills. Hence, firms buy in distant sectors to acquire already operational human capital.

Working Papers:

Venture Fraud, with Alexander Dyck, Freda Fang and Ting Xu

2026 John L. Weinberg/IRRCi Research Paper Award, Boardroom Governance Newsletter

Featured in: Financial Times, Bloomberg Money Stuff by Matt Levine, Boardroom Governance Newsletter, Nominal News

Presentations: ASU Sonoran Winter Finance Conference, University of Kentucky Finance Conference, HEC Paris Entrepreneurship Workshop, IPC Spring Research Symposium, U Delaware Corporate Governance Symposium, Bretton Woods Accounting and Finance Conference, UT Austin Forensic Finance Conference, FIRS, EFA

Abstract: We assemble the first comprehensive sample of venture fraud cases involving 614 U.S. venture capital (VC)-backed startups founded since 2000. We find that VC-backed firms are 54\% more likely to face fraud charges than comparable non-VC-backed firms within a subsample of newly public firms where detection likelihood is high and homogeneous. We then examine the role of governance in explaining venture fraud, focusing on two features that have risen in recent years---founder-friendly structures and cap table complexity. In a panel prediction model examining all venture fraud cases, we find that fraud is more likely in startups with stronger founder control rights, more investors, and greater participation of non-traditional investors. Founder-controlled boards are 90\% more likely to commit fraud than VC-controlled or shared-control boards, even within the same firm. Governance variables matter much more than founder characteristics in predicting fraud. Hot funding conditions at the initial round, which weaken governance incentives, predict future fraud. Fraudulent entrepreneurs continue to found new VC-backed startups unharmed relative to non-fraudulent entrepreneurs, suggesting a lack of market discipline. Overall, our results highlight rising agency costs in VC-backed firms that could lead to misallocation and broader social costs.

Financing the Next Startup: The Role of Gender with Heather Tookes and Emmanuel Yimfor

Featured in: SEC Small Business’s 2024 Report to Congress, Yale Insight

Presentations: SITE (2024), NFA (2024), AFA (2025), MFA (2025), RCFS Winter conference (2025), SFS Cavalcade (2025)

Abstract: What explains the persistent gender gap in high-growth entrepreneurship? Using a novel within-startup design, we compare male and female cofounders of the same venture. After failure, women are 22\% less likely to found another venture capital (VC)-backed startup. Conditional on raising VC, women CEOs with prior failures raise 46\% less per deal. We develop dynamic tests to examine how investors respond to founders’ track records and portfolio-level signals. Consistent with biased beliefs, investors penalize women more for failures but do not reward successes. Differences in founder quality do not explain the gap; lower re-entry accounts for only a small share.

Learning from Errors in Entrepreneurship

Featured in: Rotman Insight Hub

Presentations: WEFI, NBER entrepreneurship, MFA, NFA, RCFS Winter conference, CEPR Endless Summer

Abstract: This paper shows that entrepreneurs make systematic forecast errors and revise their beliefs in the early years of business creation. Using a representative survey of 200,000 French entrepreneurs linked to administrative data, I document both optimism and pessimism in development and hiring forecasts. Optimistic entrepreneurs who underperform are more likely to exit, while those who meet or exceed expectations continue. Among survivors, forecast errors decline over time, and entrepreneurs revise their business models and financing strategies to improve performance. These findings highlight entrepreneurship as a dynamic experimentation process in which early mistakes generate information, leading to the self-selection of efficient entrepreneurs.

The Immigrant Wage Penalty : Evidence from Domestic and International MBA Graduates in Canada, with Irene Yi

Presentations: NYU WAPFIN (2022)

Abstract: We study the job market outcomes and career paths of MBA graduates from the University of Toronto between 2010 to 2019, depending on their immigration status. The first salary of an international MBA graduate is, on average $4,208–$12,358 lower than that of a Canadian citizen within the same cohort and after controlling for language, abilities and other determinants of wages. We find evidence that international students self-select into different occupations and industries than Canadians. Using LinkedIn and Glassdoor, we track the careers after graduation and estimate their long-term salaries. The immigration wage gap widens over time, consistent with path dependency in MBA graduates’ careers.

Resting Papers:

Acquisitions, Labor Reallocation and Productivity with Paul Beaumont

Presentations: Labor and Finance group (2019)

Abstract: We estimate the impact of acquisitions on firm performance and employment. We use a novel dataset merging administrative matched employer-employee data in France and a dataset of M&A deals occurring between 2006 and 2011. Comparing targets with firms similar in terms of size, age, and industry, we find that going through an acquisition boosts firm total employment, with target firms experiencing higher net employment growth (2.7 percentage points) over the three years following the acquisition. Job creation is concentrated among diversified deals and essentially benefits low-skilled workers and workers in technical occupations. By contrast, top executives and managers are more likely to be laid-off. Moreover, we show that intra-group reallocation is an important driver of M&A gains and employment dynamics.

Are Investors Aware of Ownership Connections? with Edith Ginglinger and Luc Renneboog

Larry Lang Best Corporate Finance Paper Award, European Financial Management Association conference (2018)

Abstract: We examine market reactions to earnings announcements within a parent-subsidiary ownership structure. Parents’ investors react to all announcements within the group either immediately or with delay, whereas subsidiaries’ investors only react to their own firm’s announcements, ignoring predictive information released by the parent. Multiple announcements within a group lead to enhanced transparency for parents’ investors. In contrast, subsidiaries’ investors appear unaware of ownership links, and behave as inattentive investors. Inattention is worsened by geographical diversification and indirect ownership, but is explained by strategic timing of the disclosure of earnings surprises, day-of-the-week effect, internal capital markets, or synergy-related explanations across industries.

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