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The relationship between pre-entry experience and patenting for a sample of 133 firms active in the fabless semiconductor business between 1984 and 2005 is studied. Controlling for variables such as venture capital, post-entry experience and parent involvement in the creation of the new venture, it is found that firms with better educated founders have a higher hazard to patent soon after entry. Additionally, firms whose founders have a longer tenure in the parent firm have a relatively higher hazard of patenting. Finally, firms whose founders have innovated in the past are more likely to innovate. Results suggest that both general and specific human capital are important preconditions of pre-entry experience.