Start-Up Investment With Scarce Venture Capital Support

Venture capitalists, representing informed capital, screen, monitor and advise start-up entrepreneurs. The paper reports three new results on venture capital (VC) finance. First, there is an optimal number of companies in the VC portfolio with a trade-off between the number of companies and the value of managerial advice. Second, dilution of advice plays an important role in the adjustment of the VC industry. Third, as a welfare result, a VC tends to provide too little advisory effort but takes too many companies to be advised. Testable implications are discussed.