We provide clean evidence that collateral constraints restrict entrepreneurial activity. We use shocks to house prices, along with individual data on home ownership, to investigate the effect of collateral shocks to firm creation, post entry growth, and long-term survival. First, at the intensive margin, we show that entrepreneurs who own their private homes are able to grow their businesses faster if their house values appreciate faster. Long-run effects are particularly strong for survival, and for employment in newly started firms. Second, at the extensive margin, owning a house that appreciates faster increases the probability of becoming an entrepreneur at the individual level. Finally, in the aggregate, we show that ownership rates interacted with price growth predicts entrepreneurial activity and employment by newly created firms at the regional level.