The consequences of conflict between the venture capitalist and the entrepreneurial team in the United Kingdom from the perspective of the venture capitalist

This research investigates the factors associated with the nature of conflict in the post-investment relationship between the venture capitalist (VC) and the entrepreneurial team (EP) in a venture that was funded by the venture capital firm, and as perceived by the VC. The study hypothesises a relationship between this perceived conflict and the post-investment performance of the investee firm. It examines both cognitive and affective conflict in two strategic areas — organisational goals and policy decisions — and relates them to the performance. The data was collected by a survey of VCs in the UK and a 60% effective response rate was achieved. The results show that conflict as disagreement can be beneficial for the venture performance, although at the same time, conflict as personal friction is negatively associated with performance. These impacts are in general stronger in the conflict related to organisational goals than to policy decisions.     

Splitting the firm between the entrepreneur and the venture capitalist with the help of stock options

The Net Present Value (NPV) Rule provides the basic principle underlying the sharing of ownership in a new venture. The principle often fails because the entrepreneur and the venture capitalist cannot agree on the potential profitability value of the venture.First, the venture capitalist may simply have a less optimistic interpretation of the data related to the venture's profit potential. We refer to this discrepancy between the expectation of the entrepreneur and that of the venture capitalist as the expectation gap.Second, the venture capitalist knows that for the venture's potential to be realized, the entrepreneur/manager must devote his full effort to the success of the organization. This is not a problem if the entrepreneur owns the entire project. Once the ownership is shared, however, especially when the venture capitalists own the majority of the shares, the entrepreneur has a financial incentive to apply less than the diligence required to control costs and protect the interests of the outside equity holders. This financial incentive arises because any perk, including leisure or shirking, consumed by the entrepreneur does not have to be shared with the venture capitalist, while every dollar saved does. This is not solved by the venture capitalist acquiring a larger percentage of the company. That will only exacerbate the problem as it decreases the cost to the entrepreneur of each dollar of the company's funds spent for the perk. We refer to this as the motivation problem.In the article, we show how stock options can be used to deal effectively with both problems. First, stock options are always worth more to the optimist than to the pessimist. Thus, there will be a reverse valuation gap with respect to the stock options. We show that by issuing stock options to the entrepreneur, it is possible to close the expectation gap.To solve the motivation problem, the entrepreneur's stake must be increased to the extent where the cost to him of excessive consumption of perks will be as high as the benefit he derives. This can be accomplished by taking advantage of two valuation characteristics of stock options. First, stock options are worth only a fraction of the value of the underlying equity shares. Thus, it is easier for the venture capitalist to give up these, rather than the underlying equity shares. Second, the stock options will fluctuate with the venturing firm's value at a higher rate than the entrepreneur's percentage ownership. Thus, by issuing the entrepreneur a combination of equity shares and stock options, it is possible to increase significantly the entrepreneur's cost of “shirking” or “excessive consumption of perks.” Under idealized conditions, it is possible to design a financing arrangement that eliminates the motivation problem.The principles discussed here provide benchmarks that both the entrepreneur and the venture capitalist may wish to bring to the negotiating table. In the end, there is no substitute for the building of trust between the two to give the venture the maximum chance of success.     

An entrepreneur's choice of venture capitalist or angel-financing: A behavioral game-theoretic approach

We develop a game-theoretic model that analyzes the effects of economic and behavioral characteristics on an entrepreneur's choice of financier (venture capitalist or angel). After the entrepreneur has chosen his financier, the dyad faces double-sided moral hazard problems in the form of ex ante effort-shirking, and ex post project-expropriation. In making his choice of financier, the entrepreneur trades-off the following factors. The venture capitalist has higher value-creating abilities than the angel. However, the entrepreneur anticipates a closer, more empathetic and trusting relationship with the angel. Entrepreneur/angel empathy and trust mitigates the double-sided shirking and expropriation threats. Our model contributes to two strands of venture capitalist research; the entrepreneur's choice of financier in the face of double-sided moral hazard problems, and the effect of behavioral factors, such as empathy and trust, on the creation of ‘relational rents’.     

New venture internationalization: The role of venture capital types and reputation

This study examines how different types of venture capital relate to new venture internationalization. Using a sample of 646 U.S. new ventures that executed IPOs between 1995 and 2010, we find that ventures with foreign or corporate venture capital have higher levels of international intensity. We also investigate the moderating role of VC reputation on the relationship between foreign venture capital and international intensity and corporate venture capital and international intensity. Our results suggest that VC reputation weakens the positive relationship between corporate VC and international intensity.     

Early internationalization and the role of immigration in new venture survival

Immigrant-started new ventures face the liability of ethnicity because of their founders’ disadvantaged immigration status. It is extremely difficult for them to acquire human, social and financial capital and access market in founders’ country of residence to survive. This study empirically examines the survival of immigrant-started new ventures. We find that an early internationalization strategy could enhance those ventures’ survival and that immigration status moderates the effect of an early internationalization strategy on their survival. This study contributes to both immigrant and international entrepreneurship literature. Managerial and policy implications are also discussed.     

Buddhist entrepreneurs and new venture performance: the mediating role of entrepreneurial risk-taking

Small Business Economics - This study examines how Buddhism as an Eastern religion influences new venture performance. We propose that Buddhist values and associations can bring unique benefits to...     

The role of venture capital in financing small business

Venture capital is a primary and unique source of funding for small firms because these firms (with sales and/or assets under $5 million) have very limited access to traditional capital markets. Venture capital is a substitute, but not a perfect substitute, for trade credit, bank credit, and other forms of financing for small firms. Small businesses are not likely to be successful in attracting venture capital unless the firms have the potential to provide extraordinary returns to the venture capitalist.This study provides an analysis of a survey of venture capital firms that participate in small business financing. The survey participants are venture capital firms that were 1986 members of the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), the largest venture capital association in the United States.The average size of the venture capital firms responding to the survey is $92 million dollars in assets, with a range from $600 thousand to $500 million. Twenty-three percent of the respondents have total assets below $20 million, and 27% have assets above $100 million.The venture capitalists' investment (assets held) in small firms delineate the supply of venture capital to small firms. Sixty-three of the 92 venture capitalists' have more than 70% of their assets invested in small firms.The venture capitalists were asked how their investment plans might change with changes in the tax law that were projected in the spring of 1986. Fifty-four percent expected to increase their investments in small firms, and 38% did not expect to change these activities.Venture capitalists are very selective in allocating their resources. The average number of annual requests that a venture capitalist receives is 652, and the median number is 500: only 11.5 of the respondents receive more than 1,000 proposals per year.     

The role of the venture business culture in the renewal of Japanese industry

Facing the most severe economic downturn of the postwar period, Japan is now rethinking its economic and management system. Large companies are in the process of management restructuring and many of them are launching new management programs in order to encourage entrepreneurship internally. Existing small and medium sized firms are also trying to develop new businesses practices making them more independent from the larger concerns. At the same time, a growing number of Japanese people are considering forming their own companies. Many obstacles of different natures remain and would-be entrepreneurs will need a much improved environment to succeed in the years to come. Nevertheless, the momentum is getting stronger by the day and a venture-type business culture may become a key factor in the renewal of the Japanese economy to put it back on a sustainable growth path.     

基于子公司角色演化的跨国公司创新研究

在经济全球化和竞争复杂化的背景下,跨国公司创新的途径逐渐转变为通过信息的相互传递,采取有效的控制与协调手段,实现母子公司和子公司间的整合,从而寻求竞争优势并提高跨国公司的国际竞争力,由此也带来跨国公司子公司角色发生根本性变化,子公司演变为母公司创新的源泉之一.本文在分析子公司创新的优势以及创新传播的困难的基础上,提出了母公司吸收、整合和传播子公司创新的方法,并从在华子公司的视角为我国合资企业如何最大化利用子公司创新提供对策建议.     

The role of domestic and cross-border venture capital investors in the growth of portfolio companies

This paper studies how the presence of cross-border as opposed to domestic venture capital investors is associated with the growth of portfolio companies. For this purpose, we use a longitudinal research design and track sales, total assets and payroll expenses in 761 European technology companies from the year of initial venture capital investment up to seven years thereafter. Findings demonstrate how companies initially backed by domestic venture capital investors exhibit higher growth in the short term compared to companies backed by cross-border investors. In the medium term, companies initially backed by cross-border venture capital investors exhibit higher growth compared to companies backed by domestic investors. Finally, companies that are initially funded by a syndicate comprising both domestic and cross-border venture capital investors exhibit the highest growth. Overall, this study provides a more fine-grained understanding of the role that domestic and cross-border venture capital investors can play as their portfolio companies grow and thereby require different resources or capabilities over time.     

Closing the regional equity capital gap: The role of informal venture capital

There is evidence from a number of countries that small firms encounter a shortage of long-term investment finance, particularly at start-up and initial growth. Expansion of the institutional venture capital industry has done little to fill this equity gap on account of its preference for making large investments in established companies and management/leveraged buyouts. Moreover, the supply of venture capital exhibits a high level of spatial concentration. Initiatives by state/provincial and local governments, most notably in economically lagging regions, to increase the supply of risk capital for start-ups and early stage businesses have at best provided a very partial, and often costly, solution. A more appropriate approach to increasing the supply of start-up and early stage finance is to facilitate the more efficient operation of theinformal venture capital market. Informal investors, or business angels, are private investors who provide risk capital directly to new and growing businesses in which they have no family connection. Most business angels are unable to find sufficient investment opportunities and so have substantial uncommitted funds available. There is also considerable scope for expanding the population of business angels. The most cost-effective means of closing the equity gap is therefore for the public sector to underwrite the operating costs of business introduction services whose objective is to overcome the two main sources of inefficiency in the informal venture capital market, namely the invisibility of business angels and the high search costs of angels seeking investment opportunities and entrepreneurs seeking investors, by the provision of a channel of communication between informal investors and entrepreneurs seeking finance.     

Impact investing and sustainable market transformations: The role of venture capital funds

Impact investors often know their financial return on investments, but are less certain about their impact. This article frames impact as their contribution to sustainable market transformation. A sustainable market transformation consists of inception, first movers, critical mass, and institutionalization phases. Given the nature of such transformations, the impact is effectuated at different moments and toward various market actors. Based on an exploratory research design with semi-structured expert interviews, this article aims to create an overview of the roles of impact venture capital funds in sustainable market transformations. The results suggest that the view that the capitalization of start-ups is the only impact of impact investors is a misconception. The needs of companies with sustainability value propositions change over time and consequently impact investors perform various roles. For example, exiting an investment while upholding social and environmental objectives communicates to mainstream business that the start-up is ready to create a greater impact. Further, impact investors fulfill external roles that change the perspectives of institutional actors toward sustainable investments. Based on an overview of the different roles that impact investors fill, this article proposes a future research agenda to strengthen our knowledge about the impact return of investments.     

Venture capitalist participation and the performance of Chinese IPOs

We examine the effects of venture capitalist participation in IPOs in China and find that VC-backed firms are more underpriced than non-VC firms. Both VC-backed and non-VC-backed IPOs experience long-run underperformance; however, VC-backed IPOs perform significantly better. The higher level of underpricing and cost of going public for the VC-backed firms are consistent with the monitoring role of the VC. Finally, the fact that VC reputation is associated with lower underpricing is consistent with the reputational capital theory, which asserts that reputable VCs use their expertise and experience to minimize underpricing in order to preserve their reputational capital.     

On growth drivers of high-tech start-ups: Exploring the role of founders' human capital and venture capital

In this paper, we jointly analyze the effects of the human capital of founders and access to venture capital (VC) financing on the growth of 439 Italian new technology-based firms (NTBFs). We rely on econometric models that control for survivorship bias and the endogeneity of VC financing. As to non-VC-backed firms, the competence-based argument that the capabilities of NTBFs coincide with founders' skills is confirmed. Nonetheless, once a NTBF obtains VC, this coincidence vanishes, pointing to the “coach” function performed by VC investors. Conversely, the view that sees the “scout” function as the main task performed by VC investors is not supported.     

The role of private versus governmental venture capital in fostering job creation during the crisis

Small Business Economics - We analyze whether young entrepreneurial ventures backed by different types of venture capital firms, i.e., private (PVCs) vs. government-owned (GOVCs), experience higher...     

Europe and the joint venture frenzy

As the European community draws nearer to unifying its markets by 1992, smart American companies are entering into joint ventures with European firms. For these companies, digging a foothold into what will be the world's largest market is just too crucial to put off to a later date.     

Dynamic capabilities and venture performance: The effects of venture capitalists

After going through the initial public offering (IPO), new ventures face increased competition, greater public examination, and increased government scrutiny. Resource base weaknesses and external forces pose severe threats to the survival and success of new ventures. Building from resource-based theory, we first examine and delineate dynamic capabilities from entrepreneurial capabilities in entrepreneurship. We then develop theory to explain how venture capitalists (VCs) endue their ventures with greater dynamic capabilities in order to address these weaknesses and threats. We test our hypotheses on a match-pair sample of VC-backed and non-VC-backed new ventures and find that VC-backed ventures demonstrate greater dynamic capabilities as they relate to product and management development but do not display any greater dynamic capabilities as they relate to legal and government regulation threats. Further analysis also revealed that VC experience and VC reputation were positively related to 1-year stock price returns.     

New venture strategy and profitability: A venture capitalist's assessment

This study uses theoretically justified criteria from the industrial organization (IO) strategy literature and applies it to a new domain, namely, venture capitalists' decision making. Specifically, the study investigates the types of information venture capitalists utilize when evaluating new ventures and how venture capitalists use this information to assess likely new venture profitability. In the interest of advancing our understanding of the decision making policies of venture capitalists, this study addresses many of the limitations of previous research.A review of IO research suggests important relationships between a number of strategy variables and new venture profitability. Some of the relationships proposed by IO strategy research are contingent in nature. The strategy variables and their relationships with profitability are investigated in the domain of venture capitalists' decision making. Individual and aggregate decision making analyses identified those strategy variables (criteria) venture capitalists utilize in assessing likely new venture profitability, namely, timing, key success factor stability, lead time, competitive rivalry, educational capability, industry-related competence, timing × key success factor stability interaction, timing × lead time interaction, and timing × educational capability interaction.On average, the most important criterion for venture capitalists in their assessment of profitability is industry-related competence. The second tier of importance is competitive rivalry, timing, and educational capability. The third tier of importance is lead time, key success factor stability, and timing × lead time interaction. Other interactions are less important. Therefore, while venture capitalists use contingent decision policies, main effects dominate. If venture capitalists use a reported 8 to 12 minutes on average to evaluate a business plan (Sandberg 1986), then this study's findings may help the inexperienced venture capitalist allocate time towards assessing those attributes of primary importance. Although more complex relationships exist between the attributes, the inexperienced venture capitalist can take comfort from this study's findings that main effects dominant amongst senior venture capitalists. Senior venture capitalists may take less comfort from their importance placed on main effects in light of research from IO, which suggests the importance of contingent relationships. The results may also have practical application towards training.How should venture capital firms train their new employees? Should venture capital firms rely solely on experienced venture capitalists lecturing the inexperienced on the criteria they use in assessing a new venture proposal? Like most decision makers, venture capitalists have limited insight into their assessments and venture capital firms need to be aware of the gap between “espoused” policies and policies “in use.” The information being taught needs to be supplemented with venture capitalists' decision-making research that investigates decision policies “in use”, such as this study. Venture capitalist training could also involve experiential learning, in conjunction with cognitive feedback about the decision policies used, to accelerate the learning process. Experiential learning using cognitive feedback maximizes industry related learning while minimizing the cost of inexperienced decisions. For the entrepreneur seeking capital, this increased understanding of venture capitalists' decision making may help them better target their business plans and presentations at those criteria venture capitalists' find most critical to the profitability of a new venture.     

Reputation and new venture performance in online markets: The moderating role of market crowding

Reputation represents an important driver of new venture performance. This article shows that the performance benefits of reputation are substantially contingent on ventures' market conditions. My study of 797,087 sales transactions by 5760 new ventures in 119 platform-mediated online markets provides strong evidence that market crowding attenuates the reputation–performance relationship. Ventures benefit 38% to 42% more from a favorable reputation when they compete in an uncrowded (versus crowded) market. By disentangling the underlying mechanisms of reputation, my study allows for more accurate predictions about why, when, and how ventures benefit from reputation.