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CEO compensation in venture-backed firms

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  • Bengtsson, Ola
  • Hand, John R.M.

Abstract

We hypothesize that because fast-growing young companies must raise money in private capital markets that contain significant financing frictions, the CEOs of such firms will be compensated for successful fundraising. Using a sample of 1585 private venture-backed U.S. firms, we find that the cash pay of entrepreneur-CEOs is increasing in both the quantity and quality of financing secured and is more sensitive to successful fundraising the more challenging and difficult is the fundraising task. Successful fundraising also increases the gap between the pay of CEOs and other executives. Finally, we show that while VC financing dilutes the CEO's fractional equity ownership, it increases the dollar value of that ownership.

Suggested Citation

  • Bengtsson, Ola & Hand, John R.M., 2011. "CEO compensation in venture-backed firms," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 391-411, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbvent:v:26:y:2011:i:4:p:391-411
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Michael Ewens Author-1-Name-First: Michael Author-1-Name-Last: Ewens & Ramana Nanda Author-2-Name-First: Ramana Author-2-Name-Last: Nanda & Christopher Stanton Author-3-Name-First: Christopher Author-, 2020. "Founder-CEO Compensation and Selection into Venture Capital-Backed Entrepreneurship," Harvard Business School Working Papers 20-119, Harvard Business School, revised Sep 2023.
    2. Ewens, Michael & Nanda, Ramana & Stanton, Christopher, 2020. "The Evolution of CEO Compensation in Venture Capital Backed Startups," SocArXiv rku3m, Center for Open Science.
    3. Ola Bengtsson, 2011. "Covenants in Venture Capital Contracts," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(11), pages 1926-1943, November.
    4. Magnus Henrekson & Tino Sanandaji, 2018. "Stock option taxation: a missing piece in European innovation policy?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 51(2), pages 411-424, August.
    5. Rishabh, Kumar, 2021. "Bank as a Venture Capitalist," Working papers 2021/09, Faculty of Business and Economics - University of Basel.
    6. David R. Williams & Betty S. Coffey & Carlton C. Young, 2018. "Human capital and agency effects on CEO compensation of IPO biopharmaceutical firms and the market’s response," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 22(2), pages 315-337, June.
    7. Rebel A. Cole & Hamid Mehran, 2016. "What do we know about executive compensation at small privately held firms?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 46(2), pages 215-237, February.
    8. Chua, Ansley & Nasser, Tareque, 2016. "Insider sales in IPOs: Consequences of liquidity needs," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 1-17.
    9. Parker, Simon C., 2020. "Editorial: On submitting economics articles to JBV," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 35(4).
    10. Cronqvist, Henrik & Fahlenbrach, Rüdiger, 2013. "CEO contract design: How do strong principals do it?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(3), pages 659-674.

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