Venture Capital Organizations and Entrepreneurial Finance

Paul A. Gompers is examining corporate control and governance issues in venture capital organizations and entrepreneurial firms in an effort to understand how their relationships with their investors affect the venture capitalists' investment decisions. Using theoretical models, large-sample empirical research, and field-based case studies, Gompers is examining the governance structures-covenants, restrictions, and compensation-employed in venture capital organizations. He is also examining the relationships between venture capitalists and the entrepreneurs they finance in an effort to identify the control mechanisms the former employ to influence the latter, and is attempting to identify the determinants of success and failure in venture capital-backed companies. Gompers is developing from his findings course materials on venture capital and entrepreneurial finance.