Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine what are the relevant key variables related to entrepreneurial behavior among the characteristics of youth entrepreneurs? In addition, we explore how do the outcome variables of employment performance (non-financial performance) and traditional financial performance relate to the antecedents of youth entrepreneurship? Research design, data, and methodology: W e surveyed 3 47 f irms that had received g overnment start-up assistance under the a ge o f 39. S tructural equation m odels were c onstructed a nd f actor analysis w as c onducted t o conf rim reliability a nd v alidity. P ath coef fciients were c alculated. H ypothesized effects and relevance were then analyzed through statistical tests. Results: T he r esults s how that EO has a critical impact on t he identif ication and exploitation o f opportunities. Behavioral f actors a re p ositively related to government support strategies, such as financial assistance and mentorship. Controlling for both mentorship and financial assistance, mentorship drives job creation, while financial assistance leads to improved financial outcomes. Further, the interdependent relationship between EO and opportunity discovery and exploitation is significantly related to financial performance and job creation, respectively. It is also recommended that start-up ecosystems move towards scalable entrepreneurship policies, promote K-mentorship programs, and adopt region-specific monitoring and feedback processes. Implications: This study introduces a n ew e cosystem in terms of job c reation and opportunity identification and exploitation. We propose that the government s hould support the growth and s uccess o f enterprises b y (1) shif int g t he d irection o f p olicy support from creation t o scale-up, (2) presenting EO-based scale-up role models and establishing growth-inducing support systems, and (3) establishing monitoring rules and return processes for each local startup ecosystem.