IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jobuve/v19y2023ics2352673423000124.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Jockeys, horses or teams? The selection of startups by venture capitalists

Author

Listed:
  • Esen, Tekin
  • Dahl, Michael S.
  • Sorenson, Olav

Abstract

How do venture capitalists select startups? Most research to date has focused on the attributes of either the founders (the jockey) or the business idea (the horse) as the determinants of selection. Connecting information from VentureXpert to the Danish registry data allows us to extend this analysis to include information on all employees of startups (the team). To assess the importance of these factors to access to venture capital, our analysis compares startups that received funding to other startups founded at the same time and in the same industry. Consistent with the jockey hypothesis and prior research, we find that firms with more and better educated founders have a higher probability of receiving venture capital. However, high-quality employees appear to matter even more than founders to the probability of being funded.

Suggested Citation

  • Esen, Tekin & Dahl, Michael S. & Sorenson, Olav, 2023. "Jockeys, horses or teams? The selection of startups by venture capitalists," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 19(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jobuve:v:19:y:2023:i:c:s2352673423000124
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbvi.2023.e00383
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352673423000124
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbvi.2023.e00383?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sampsa Samila & Olav Sorenson, 2011. "Venture Capital, Entrepreneurship, and Economic Growth," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 93(1), pages 338-349, February.
    2. Bottazzi, Laura & Da Rin, Marco & Hellmann, Thomas, 2008. "Who are the active investors?: Evidence from venture capital," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(3), pages 488-512, September.
    3. Bertoni, Fabio & Colombo, Massimo G. & Grilli, Luca, 2011. "Venture capital financing and the growth of high-tech start-ups: Disentangling treatment from selection effects," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(7), pages 1028-1043, September.
    4. Block, Joern & Fisch, Christian & Vismara, Silvio & Andres, René, 2019. "Private equity investment criteria: An experimental conjoint analysis of venture capital, business angels, and family offices," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 329-352.
    5. Hoenig, Daniel & Henkel, Joachim, 2015. "Quality signals? The role of patents, alliances, and team experience in venture capital financing," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(5), pages 1049-1064.
    6. Hsu, David H., 2007. "Experienced entrepreneurial founders, organizational capital, and venture capital funding," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 722-741, June.
    7. Steven N. Kaplan & Josh Lerner, 2016. "Venture Capital Data: Opportunities and Challenges," NBER Chapters, in: Measuring Entrepreneurial Businesses: Current Knowledge and Challenges, pages 413-431, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Lyonnet, Victor & Stern, Lea H., 2022. "Venture Capital (Mis)allocation in the Age of AI," Working Paper Series 2022-02, Ohio State University, Charles A. Dice Center for Research in Financial Economics.
    9. Pierre Azoulay & Benjamin F. Jones & J. Daniel Kim & Javier Miranda, 2020. "Age and High-Growth Entrepreneurship," American Economic Review: Insights, American Economic Association, vol. 2(1), pages 65-82, March.
    10. Scott Shane & Daniel Cable, 2002. "Network Ties, Reputation, and the Financing of New Ventures," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 48(3), pages 364-381, March.
    11. Baum, Joel A. C. & Silverman, Brian S., 2004. "Picking winners or building them? Alliance, intellectual, and human capital as selection criteria in venture financing and performance of biotechnology startups," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 411-436, May.
    12. Steven N. Kaplan & Berk A. Sensoy & Per Strömberg, 2009. "Should Investors Bet on the Jockey or the Horse? Evidence from the Evolution of Firms from Early Business Plans to Public Companies," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(1), pages 75-115, February.
    13. Nanda, Ramana & Samila, Sampsa & Sorenson, Olav, 2020. "The persistent effect of initial success: Evidence from venture capital," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(1), pages 231-248.
    14. Olav Sorenson & Michael S. Dahl & Rodrigo Canales & M. Diane Burton, 2021. "Do Startup Employees Earn More in the Long Run?," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(3), pages 587-604, May.
    15. Vance H. Freid & Robert D Hisrich, 1994. "Toward a Model of Venture Capital Investment Decision Making," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 23(3), Fall.
    16. Colombo, Massimo G. & Grilli, Luca, 2010. "On growth drivers of high-tech start-ups: Exploring the role of founders' human capital and venture capital," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 25(6), pages 610-626, November.
    17. Michael S. Dahl & Olav Sorenson, 2012. "Home Sweet Home: Entrepreneurs' Location Choices and the Performance of Their Ventures," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(6), pages 1059-1071, June.
    18. Macmillan, Ian C. & Siegel, Robin & Narasimha, P. N. Subba, 1985. "Criteria used by venture capitalists to evaluate new venture proposals," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 119-128.
    19. Shai Bernstein & Arthur Korteweg & Kevin Laws, 2017. "Attracting Early-Stage Investors: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 72(2), pages 509-538, April.
    20. Timo van Balen & Murat Tarakci & Ashish Sood, 2019. "Do Disruptive Visions Pay Off? The Impact of Disruptive Entrepreneurial Visions on Venture Funding," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(2), pages 303-342, March.
    21. Matthew Bidwell & Shinjae Won & Roxana Barbulescu & Ethan Mollick, 2015. "I used to work at Goldman Sachs! How firms benefit from organizational status in the market for human capital," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(8), pages 1164-1173, August.
    22. Beckman, Christine M. & Burton, M. Diane & O'Reilly, Charles, 2007. "Early teams: The impact of team demography on VC financing and going public," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 147-173, March.
    23. Davila, Antonio & Foster, George & Gupta, Mahendra, 2003. "Venture capital financing and the growth of startup firms," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 18(6), pages 689-708, November.
    24. Ting Zhang & Zoltan Acs, 2018. "Age and entrepreneurship: nuances from entrepreneur types and generation effects," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 773-809, December.
    25. Haeussler, Carolin & Harhoff, Dietmar & Mueller, Elisabeth, 2014. "How patenting informs VC investors – The case of biotechnology," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(8), pages 1286-1298.
    26. Croce, Annalisa & Martí, José & Murtinu, Samuele, 2013. "The impact of venture capital on the productivity growth of European entrepreneurial firms: ‘Screening’ or ‘value added’ effect?," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 489-510.
    27. Vance H. Fried & Robert D. Hisrich, 1994. "Toward a Model of Venture Capital Investment Decision Making," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 23(3), Fall.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Roma, Paolo & Vasi, Maria & Kolympiris, Christos, 2021. "On the signaling effect of reward-based crowdfunding: (When) do later stage venture capitalists rely more on the crowd than their peers?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(6).
    2. Lohwasser, Todor S., 2020. "Meta-analyzing the relative performance of venture capital-backed firms," Discussion Papers of the Institute for Organisational Economics 4/2020, University of Münster, Institute for Organisational Economics.
    3. Ko, Eun-Jeong & McKelvie, Alexander, 2018. "Signaling for more money: The roles of founders' human capital and investor prominence in resource acquisition across different stages of firm development," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 438-454.
    4. M. Knockaert & T. Vanacker, 2011. "The Association between Venture Capitalists’ Selection and Value Adding Behavior: Evidence from Early Stage High Tech Venture Capitalists," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 11/741, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    5. Mojca Svetek, 2023. "The Role of Entrepreneurs’ Perceived Competence and Cooperativeness in Early-Stage Financing," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 47(6), pages 2047-2076, November.
    6. Epure, Mircea & Guasch, Martí, 2020. "Debt signaling and outside investors in early stage firms," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 35(2).
    7. Mirjam Knockaert & Tom Vanacker, 2013. "The association between venture capitalists’ selection and value adding behavior: evidence from early stage high tech venture capitalists," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 493-509, April.
    8. Chemmanur, Thomas J. & Gupta, Manish & Simonyan, Karen & Tehranian, Hassan, 2021. "The relationship between venture capital backing and the top management team quality of firms going public and implications for initial public offerings," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(6).
    9. Pavlova, Elitsa & Signore, Simone, 2019. "The European venture capital landscape: an EIF perspective. Volume V: The economic impact of VC investments supported by the EIF," EIF Working Paper Series 2019/55, European Investment Fund (EIF).
    10. Carolin Bock & Alexander Huber & Svenja Jarchow, 2018. "Growth factors of research-based spin-offs and the role of venture capital investing," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 43(5), pages 1375-1409, October.
    11. Rin, Marco Da & Hellmann, Thomas & Puri, Manju, 2013. "A Survey of Venture Capital Research," Handbook of the Economics of Finance, in: G.M. Constantinides & M. Harris & R. M. Stulz (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Finance, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 573-648, Elsevier.
    12. Christian Hackober & Carolin Bock, 2021. "Which investors’ characteristics are beneficial for initial coin offerings? Evidence from blockchain technology-based firms," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 91(8), pages 1085-1124, October.
    13. Banal-Estañol, Albert & Macho-Stadler, Inés & Nieto-Postigo, Jonás & Pérez-Castrillo, David, 2023. "Early individual stakeholders, first venture capital investment, and exit in the UK startup ecosystem," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    14. Colombo, Massimo G. & Guerini, Massimiliano & Hoisl, Karin & Zeiner, Nico M., 2023. "The dark side of signals: Patents protecting radical inventions and venture capital investments," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(5).
    15. Wesley II, Curtis L. & Kong, Dejun Tony & Lubojacky, Connor J. & Kim Saxton, M. & Saxton, Todd, 2022. "Will the startup succeed in your eyes? Venture evaluation of resource providers during entrepreneurs' informational signaling," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 37(5).
    16. Townsend, David M. & Busenitz, Lowell W., 2015. "Turning water into wine? Exploring the role of dynamic capabilities in early-stage capitalization processes," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 292-306.
    17. KATO Masatoshi & Nicolas LEGENDRE & YOSHIDA Hiroki, 2022. "Does VC Investor Type Matter? Determinants and effects of VC backing for new firms in Japan," Discussion papers 22117, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    18. Dunne, Timothy C. & Clark, Brent B. & Berns, John P. & McDowell, William C., 2019. "The technology bias in entrepreneur-investor negotiations," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 258-269.
    19. Simon Kleinert & Christine Volkmann & Marc Grünhagen, 2020. "Third-party signals in equity crowdfunding: the role of prior financing," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 54(1), pages 341-365, January.
    20. Anita Quas & Jose Martí & Carmelo Reverte, 2021. "What money cannot buy: a new approach to measure venture capital ability to add non-financial resources," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 1361-1382, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jobuve:v:19:y:2023:i:c:s2352673423000124. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-business-venturing-insights .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.