Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • 2017
  • Working Paper
  • HBS Working Paper Series

The Right Mix: Angels, Venture Capitalists, and the Assembly of Entrepreneurial Resources

By: Benjamin Hallen and Rory McDonald
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:44
ShareBar

Abstract

New ventures rely on external relationships for capital, knowledge, and networks. We examine how ventures assemble these resources—and whether they are all accessible from the same sources—in relationships with two types of investors: venture capital firms and angels. We argue the entrepreneurial investment landscape creates tensions between acquiring capital versus knowledge and networks, and secondarily between knowledge and networks pertinent to early operational execution versus long-term development. Through simultaneous relationships with both types of investors, we suggest, ventures can efficiently assemble both capital (via venture capitalists) and broad networks (via numerous angels). This inference is supported in a sample of 838 digital ventures. Our results address the nature and assembly of entrepreneurial resources, pinpointing the respective contributions of venture capital and angel investors.

Keywords

Business Ventures; Venture Capital; Entrepreneurship

Citation

Hallen, Benjamin, and Rory McDonald. "The Right Mix: Angels, Venture Capitalists, and the Assembly of Entrepreneurial Resources." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 17-082, March 2017.

About The Author

Rory M. McDonald

Technology and Operations Management
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • December 2022
    • Administrative Science Quarterly

    Shaping Nascent Industries: Innovation Strategy and Regulatory Uncertainty in Personal Genomics

    By: Cheng Gao and Rory McDonald
    • September 2022
    • Strategy Science

    A Spanner in the Works: Category-Spanning Entrants and Audience Valuation of Incumbents

    By: Rory M. McDonald and Ryan T. Allen
    • MIT Sloan Management Review

    Mastering Innovation's Toughest Trade-Offs

    By: Christopher B. Bingham and Rory M. McDonald
More from the Authors
  • Shaping Nascent Industries: Innovation Strategy and Regulatory Uncertainty in Personal Genomics By: Cheng Gao and Rory McDonald
  • A Spanner in the Works: Category-Spanning Entrants and Audience Valuation of Incumbents By: Rory M. McDonald and Ryan T. Allen
  • Mastering Innovation's Toughest Trade-Offs By: Christopher B. Bingham and Rory M. McDonald
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College