In the world of startups and entrepreneurship, venture capitalists (VCs) are often seen as not only a source of funding but also as strategic partners who can guide new ventures to success. But do VCs really add value beyond their financial contributions? A study followed VC-funded startups over a ten-year period to see how these factors influenced their success or failure, providing some surprising insights into the relationships between VCs and startup teams. It looked at three main areas:
- Learning Assistance: How VCs’ strategic advice impacts the performance of ventures.
- Dismissals: The effects of VCs dismissing team members from the ventures they fund.
- Procedural Justice: The importance of fairness and respectful treatment in the relationship.
Data
- The average amount of first-round funding was just over $3 million
- Procedural justice was measured on a 5-point Likert scale with a mean score of 3.59
- Strategic information was also measured on a 5-point Likert scale with a mean score of 3.52
- Single dismissals occurred in 27% of ventures
- Two or more dismissals occurred in 21% of ventures. The dismissal of two or more members had a risk ratio indicating the hazard of going out of business was about twice as great as having no dismissals
- Procedural justice had a positive effect on venture success with a 40% increase in the probability of a successful exit for each one-unit increase in procedural justice on a 5-point Likert scale
- The study reported a risk ratio of 1.4 for VC firm size. This means that for each unit increase in VC firm size, there was a 40% increase in the probability of a successful venture exit, such as an IPO or a merger/acquisition, compared to smaller VC firms
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Insights
Strategic Advice: Not As Impactful As Believed
VCs’ strategic advice did not significantly improve the long-term success of the ventures. This challenges the idea that VCs add the most value through their business insights and strategic guidance.
The Downside of Dismissals
When VCs decide to dismiss members of the founding team, it often leads to worse outcomes for the venture. Specifically, if two or more team members were dismissed, the venture’s chances of failing increased. This suggests that such dismissals can be highly disruptive and negatively impact team dynamics and performance.
The Power of Fairness
One of the most critical findings was the importance of procedural justice. Ventures where VCs treated founders fairly and with respect saw better long-term success. Fair treatment involved VCs listening to and valuing the founding team’s input, leading to a more cooperative and productive relationship.
What Larger VCs Do Better
- Resource Availability: More resources at their disposal, including capital, networks, and expertise. This enables them to provide more substantial support to their portfolio companies
- Experienced Management: Knowledgeable partners who can offer valuable strategic guidance and insights
- Better Networks: Industry contacts, which can help portfolio companies with customer acquisition, partnerships, and funding rounds
- Reputation and Credibility: Enhances a startup’s credibility and attractiveness to other investors, customers, and potential partners
Recommendations
Focus on Relationships
VCs should prioritize maintaining fair and respectful relationships with the ventures they invest in. This means being open to the founders’ ideas and fostering a collaborative environment.
Minimize Disruptions
Reducing the number of dismissals and other disruptions within the founding team can lead to better outcomes. Stability and trust within the team are crucial for long-term success.
Cooperation Over Control
Instead of trying to control the direction of the venture through strategic advice, VCs can add more value by working cooperatively with founders, supporting their efforts, and respecting their expertise. The most successful ventures are those where VCs and founders work together in a fair, respectful, and cooperative manner.
Learnings
By focusing on these aspects, both VCs and entrepreneurs can better navigate the complex journey of building successful ventures.
For Entrepreneurs
Finding investors who value and respect their input could be just as important as the size of the investment. When seeking venture capital, aligning with micro-VC firms with connections to larger VCs with more AUM might increase the chances of long-term successful exits due to the additional resources and support of well-aligned investors.
For Micro-VC Firms
Need to emphasize their niche expertise, personalized attention, and agility to compete effectively with larger firms by providing resources, knowledgeable partners, industry contacts while maintaing a credible reputation. Having larger VC firms in startup cap table for successful exits means micro-VCs investing in early stages wanting to provide value-add also need to have a bigger network of not only co-investors, but also follow-on investors. Successful exits can lead to much bigger returns for early-stage micro-VCs than the later-stage larger VCs.
For all VC Firms
Instead of focusing on being involved with the strategy decision making focus on operational value-add such as removing probable hurdles in the path of the founding team by sharing what the startup’s trajectory might look like from that point on, opening up network of resources, domain experts and partners, lawyers, distribution. Operator VCs from niche sectors also have the advantage of providing user adoption insights, that would take budding entrepreneurs perhaps years to learn, and being able to build long term relationships with founders in the same sector due to their deeper understanding and communicating at the technical level.
For Policymakers and Ecosystem Builders
Encouraging the growth and development of VC firms within an entrepreneurial ecosystem might lead to higher overall success rates for startups.