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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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• Working Paper | HBS Working Paper Series | 2020

  The Evolution of CEO Compensation in Venture Capital Backed Startups

  Michael Ewens, Ramana Nanda and Christopher Stanton

  We use individual-level data to shed light on the evolution of founder-CEO compensation in venture capital-backed startups. We document that having a tangible, marketable product is a fundamental milestone in CEOs’ compensation contracts, marking the point at which liquid cash compensation begins to increase significantly – well before a liquidity event. “Product market fit” also coincides with key human capital in the startup becoming more replaceable, marking an apparent transition in the firm's lifecycle from ‘differentiation’ to ‘standardization’. Although substantial increases in cash compensation for founder-CEOs in response to milestones improves the certainty equivalent of attempting entrepreneurship relative to flat pay, low cash compensation in the very early years can still deter entrepreneurship for potential entrants. We characterize the types of individuals most likely to be impacted by this constraint and hence those whose ideas are unlikely to be commercialized through VC-backed entrepreneurship.

  Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Executive Compensation;

  Citation:

  Ewens, Michael, Ramana Nanda, and Christopher Stanton. "The Evolution of CEO Compensation in Venture Capital Backed Startups." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 20-119, May 2020.  View Details

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• Working Paper | HBS Working Paper Series | 2020

  Financial Distancing: How Venture Capital Follows the Economy Down and Curtails Innovation

  Sabrina T. Howell, Josh Lerner, Ramana Nanda and Richard Townsend

  Although late-stage venture capital (VC) activity did not change dramatically in the first two months after the COVID-19 pandemic reached the U.S., early-stage VC activity declined by 38%. The particular sensitivity of early-stage VC investment to market conditions—which we show to be common across recessions spanning four decades from 1976 to 2017—raises questions about the pro-cyclicality of VC and its implications for innovation, especially in light of the common narrative that VC is relatively insulated from public markets. We find that the implications for innovation are not benign: innovation conducted by VC-backed firms in recessions is less highly cited, less original, less general, and less closely related to fundamental science. These effects are more pronounced for startups financed by early-stage venture funds. Given the important role that VC plays in financing breakthrough innovations in the economy, our findings have implications for the broader discussion on the nature of innovation across business cycles.

  Keywords: innovation; recessions; Venture Capital; Innovation and Invention; Patents; Business Cycles; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation;

  Citation:

  Howell, Sabrina T., Josh Lerner, Ramana Nanda, and Richard Townsend. "Financial Distancing: How Venture Capital Follows the Economy Down and Curtails Innovation." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 20-115, May 2020.  View Details

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