We survey 885 institutional venture capitalists (VCs) at 681 firms to learn how they make decisions across eight areas: deal sourcing; investment decisions; valuation; deal structure; post-investment value-added; exits; internal organization of firms; and relationships with limited partners. In...

With an overall lack of gender and ethnic diversity in the innovation sector documented in Gompers and Wang (2017), we ask the natural next question: Does increased diversity lead to better firm performances? In this paper, we attempt to answer this question using a unique dataset of the gender...

We survey over 1,000 institutional and corporate venture capitalists (VCs) at more than 900 different firms to learn how their decisions and investments have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. We compare their survey answers to those provided by a large sample of VCs in early 2016 and...

We survey over one thousand institutional and corporate venture capitalists (VCs) on how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected their decisions and investments. Although individual funds and portfolio companies have been dramatically impacted, VCs expect aggregate returns to be largely unchanged...

We document geographic concentration by both venture capital firms and venture capital-financed companies in three cities - San Francisco, Boston, and New York. We find that firms open new satellite offices based on the success rate of venture capital-backed investments in an area. Geography is...

This paper describes board size and composition and investigates the role of venture capital in a sample of 1,116 IPO firms. First, venture capital-backed firms have fewer insider and instrumental directors and more independent outsiders. Second, we consider board composition as the outcome of a...

This paper explores the role of investment banks and lock-up provisions in the market for new equity issues. In a sample of 2,794 IPOs, we test three potential explanations for the existence of lock-ups: (i) lock-ups serve as a signal of firm quality; (ii) lock-ups are a commitment device to...

This paper examines covenants in 140 partnership agreements establishing venture capital funds. Despite the similar objectives and structures of these funds and the relatively limited number of contracting parties, the agreements are quite heterogenous in their inclusion of covenants. We examine...

This paper examines covenants in 140 partnership agreements establishing venture capital funds that were executed between 1978 and 1992. Despite the similar objectives and structures of these funds and the relatively limited number of contracting parties, the agreements are quite heterogeneous...

This paper explores the role of investment bankers and lock-up provisions in the market for new equity issues. In a sample of 1,948 IPOs, we find support for the notion that lock-ups serve as commitment mechanisms at the time of the IPO. Insiders of firms that are associated with greater...