Blake Jackson
Blake Jackson
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Welcome! I am a finance Ph.D. student at the University of Florida.
I am on the job market during the 2025 - 2026 academic year.
My research interests include private equity, venture capital, entrepreneurship, private markets, and empirical corporate finance more broadly.
My research has been featured in The Economist and Financial Times. I visited Stanford GSB for the Fall 2023 term and part of the Fall 2024 term. I was the TA for the 2024 NBER Entrepreneurship bootcamp and I co-organize the Student-Led Workshop on Entrepreneurial Finance and Innovation.
My advisors are Andy Naranjo (University of Florida), Jay R. Ritter (University of Florida), and Ilya A. Strebulaev (Stanford GSB).
Please scroll to view my research papers.
Job Market Paper
Job Market Paper
How do Barbarians Get to the Gates? Private Equity Careers, Styles, and Returns [Updated September 2025]
Presentations: UNC-Chapel Hill Private Equity Research Consortium Symposium (2025) | WEFI Fellows Conference at Columbia Business School (2025) | University of Florida (2025)
Working Papers
Working Papers
(* By coauthor, includes scheduled)
Selling Private Equity Fees [SSRN (pdf)] [Updated June 2025]
With: Minmo Gahng
Awarded: 2022 Private Equity Research Consortium Best Paper Award
Media Coverage: Coller Capital Private Equity Findings | Private Equity International
Presentations: Western Finance Association (WFA) (2024) | UBC Sauder School of Business* (2024) | USC (Darla Moore) Fixed Income and Financial Institutions Conference* (2024) | Institute for Private Capital Spring Symposium* (2024) | SUNY Binghamton* (2024) | U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission* (2024) | University of Florida Presidents Day Weekend Conference (2024) | University of Florida (2024) | London Business School Private Capital Symposium* (2023) | University of Michigan Mitsui Finance Symposium (2023) | UNC-Chapel Hill Private Equity Research Consortium Symposium* (2022)
Political Pressures, Catering, and Return Distortions in Private Equity [SSRN (pdf)] [Updated September 2025]
With: David Ling and Andy Naranjo
Media Coverage: Financial Times | The Economist | Institutional Investor
Presentations: SFS Cavalcade (2023) | ASSA Annual Conference (2024) | Pre-WFA Summer Real Estate Research Symposium (2023) | Institute for Private Capital Spring Symposium (2023) | AREUA Virtual Seminar Series (2023) | University of Florida (2023)
Work in Progress
Work in Progress
Human Capital in Venture Capital: Evidence from 100,000 Venture Capitalists
With: Ilya A. Strebulaev
Media Coverage: Poets & Quants
Presentations: London Business School Private Capital Symposium* (2025)
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