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Managing Performance Signals Through Delay: Evidence from Venture Capital

Author

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  • Indraneel Chakraborty

    (School of Business Administration, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida 33124)

  • Michael Ewens

    (Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125)

Abstract

This paper examines whether agency conflicts during venture capital (VC) fundraising impact investment behavior. Using novel investment-level decisions of VCs in the process of raising new funds, we find that venture capitalists take actions hidden from their investors—i.e., limited partners (LPs)—that delay revealing negative information about VC fund performance until after a new fund is raised. After fundraising is complete, write-offs double and reinvestments in relatively worse-off entrepreneurial firms increase. We find that these observations cannot be explained by strategic bundling of news or effort constraints due to the newly raised fund. Funds with both long and short fundraising track record exhibit this behavior and the delay is costly for fund investors (LPs). This strategic delay shows that fundraising incentives have real impacts on VC fund investment decisions, which are often difficult for LPs to observe.

Suggested Citation

  • Indraneel Chakraborty & Michael Ewens, 2018. "Managing Performance Signals Through Delay: Evidence from Venture Capital," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(6), pages 2875-2900, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:64:y:2018:i:6:p:2875-2900
    DOI: 10.287/mnsc.2016.2662
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    6. Ting Yao & Hugh O'Neill, 2022. "Venture capital exit pressure and venture exit: A board perspective," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(13), pages 2829-2848, December.
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    9. Elena Yu. Makushina, 2022. "Disclosure by Venture Capital Funds Formed Under Investment Partnership Agreement," Finansovyj žhurnal — Financial Journal, Financial Research Institute, Moscow 125375, Russia, issue 2, pages 113-129, April.
    10. Niklas Hüther & David T. Robinson & Sönke Sievers & Thomas Hartmann-Wendels, 2020. "Paying for Performance in Private Equity: Evidence from Venture Capital Partnerships," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(4), pages 1756-1782, April.
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    12. William Gornall & Ilya A. Strebulaev, 2017. "Squaring Venture Capital Valuations with Reality," NBER Working Papers 23895, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Lei Zhang, 2019. "Founders Matter! Serial Entrepreneurs and Venture Capital Syndicate Formation," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 43(5), pages 974-998, September.
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