I met some time ago with Brad Wisler, co-Founder of SproutBox, and shared with him our research on portfolio value creation by venture capitalists. He wrote a thoughtful note, which I’ve shared below, with permission: David, Thanks for sharing this paper with me. I love the title, which almost perfectly sums up our philosophy. What follows...
[Continue Reading]Helping Startups Hit a Home Run, VC Style
Lots of venture capitalists claim to add value to the companies in which they invest. But how do they do it? And does it really produce better returns for their investors? My coauthors and I just published in the Journal of Private Equity the first-ever research study on best practices of venture capitalists...
[Continue Reading]3 Ways Proven Executives Get Paid To Work With Early-Stage Companies
Drew Hansen recently posted in Forbes a summary of my presentation (included below) on Career Opportunities with Private Equity and Venture Capital Portfolio Companies. His article is here....
[Continue Reading]High Returns On A Small Fund Challenge Low Returns On A Big Fund
I previously posted this on Techcrunch. Let’s say you decide to invest in a VC fund. Congratulations: you’re now supporting the least unpopular part of the investing industry. That said, how do you avoid suffering the poor median returns the industry is known for? Assuming you have a large amount of capital to invest, the...
[Continue Reading]A Closer Look At The Quality Of Angel Returns Data
I previously published this at Techcrunch. The good news for Techcrunch readers: Every major study conducted to date has placed angel investors’ IRR between 18 and 54 percent, as summarized by my Partner John Frankel and Professor Robert Wiltbank in prior Techcrunch articles. The bad news: the data on angel returns has historically been...
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