This paper investigates the impact of entrepreneur-specific human capital and firms' pre-entry experience on start-ups performances. Studying a sample of 342 U.S. firms active in the fabless semiconductor industry, two main findings are provided: having a serial entrepreneur as founder and being a spinoff increase the likelihood that the firm will survive. In addition, small firms are proven to live longer in this particular industry. Finally, firms who patented at least once have a lower probability to fail.