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• Article | Journal of Financial Economics | July 2020

  The Persistent Effect of Initial Success: Evidence from Venture Capital

  Ramana Nanda, Sampsa Samila and Olav Sorenson

  We use investment-level data to study performance persistence in venture capital (VC). Consistent with prior studies, we find that each additional IPO among a VC firm's first ten investments predicts as much as an 8% higher IPO rate on its subsequent investments, though this effect erodes with time. In exploring its sources, we document several additional facts: successful outcomes stem in large part from investing in the right places at the right times; VC firms do not persist in their ability to choose the right places and times to invest; but early success does lead to investing in later rounds and in larger syndicates. This pattern of results seems most consistent with the idea that initial success improves access to deal flow and that preferential access raises the quality of subsequent investments, perpetuating performance differences in initial investments.

  Keywords: Performance; Monitoring; selection; Status; Venture Capital; Performance Consistency; Investment;

  Citation:

  Nanda, Ramana, Sampsa Samila, and Olav Sorenson. "The Persistent Effect of Initial Success: Evidence from Venture Capital." Journal of Financial Economics 137, no. 1 (July 2020): 231–248.  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | December 2019 (Revised June 2020)

  The New LAX: Ready for Takeoff?

  Boris Groysberg, Kerry Herman and Carin-Isabel Knoop

  Chair of LAX Board Sean Burton and LAX CEO Deborah Flint have made progress on streamlining and modernizing LAX's complex capital projects ($12 billion worth) while reorganizing and retooling Los Angeles World Airport (LAWA) staff resources, management processes, and revitalizing the LAX guest experience. From 2015 to 2019, LAX's performance improved, yet many challenges remained, and new ones continued to come to light. In December 2019, as Flint prepared to move onto a new position, Burton and the board are assessing the progress the team has made, and looking to next steps.

  Keywords: Leadership and Change Management; Leadership; Change Management; Performance Improvement; Strategic Planning; Air Transportation;

  Citation:

  Groysberg, Boris, Kerry Herman, and Carin-Isabel Knoop. "The New LAX: Ready for Takeoff?" Harvard Business School Case 420-025, December 2019. (Revised June 2020.)  View Details

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• Working Paper | HBS Working Paper Series | 2020

  Venture Capital's Role in Financing Innovation: What We Know and How Much We Still Need to Learn

  Josh Lerner and Ramana Nanda

  Venture capital is associated with some of the most high-growth and influential firms in the world. Academics and practitioners have effectively articulated the strengths of the venture model. At the same time, venture capital financing also has real limitations in its ability to advance substantial technological change. Three issues are particularly concerning to us: 1) the very narrow band of technological innovations that fit the requirements of institutional venture capital investors; 2) the relatively small number of venture capital investors who hold, and shape the direction of, a substantial fraction of capital that is deployed into financing radical technological change; and 3) the relaxation in recent years of the intense emphasis on corporate governance by venture capital firms. While our ability to assess the social welfare impact of venture capital remains nascent, we hope that this article will stimulate discussion of and research into these questions.

  Keywords: financing; innovation; Venture Capital; Financing and Loans; Technological Innovation;

  Citation:

  Lerner, Josh, and Ramana Nanda. "Venture Capital's Role in Financing Innovation: What We Know and How Much We Still Need to Learn." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 20-031, June 2020.  View Details

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