The Founder’s Investor Choice : Entrepreneurial Decision-Making in Light of the IVC-CVC-Tradeoff

A founder’s decision for an investor can substantially influence the new venture’s success. Two common types of venture capital (VC) are independent venture capital (IVC) and corporate venture capital (CVC). Previous research focused on the investor’s perspective and studied the distinct differences between IVC and CVC, their value-adding capabilities, and risks. In contrast, as founders’ investor options have been rising, this research focuses on the founders and studies, which of the two types they prefer and why. The author outlines which investor characteristics founders favor and quantifies the value of these VC characteristics in terms of accepted equity dilution. The results show that founder preferences for the two VC types are highly heterogeneous. The author provides recommendations for founders on how to find the right investor and outlines how investors can position themselves to attract the most promising ventures and founding teams. About the author Dr. rer. pol. Alexander G. W. Schröder advises startups, SMEs, and larger organizations on entrepreneurship and innovation activities, particularly ideation and fundraising. He has coached over 80 founding teams on problem- and hypotheses-based business model development. He previously co-founded an online pharmacy and worked at numerous scaleups, at a leading venture capital fund, in strategy consulting, and at a large corporation.