Publications

December 2004 (Revised February 2005)
Case

Cheetah Conservation Fund Bush Project, The

Laurie Marker, head of the Cheetah Conservation Fund, is trying to form a for-profit institution, the Bush Project, to control the bush encroachment problem in Namibia. Bush encroachment not only destroys the general ecosystem, but it also has a harmful impact on the... View Details

Keywords: Social Enterprise; For-Profit Firms; Emerging Markets; Environmental Sustainability; Financial Strategy; Africa

Article

Specialization and Success: Evidence from Venture Capital

By: Paul A. Gompers, Anna Kovner and Josh Lerner

This paper examines how organizational structure affects behavior and outcomes, studying the performance of different types of venture capital organizations. We find a strong positive relationship between the degree of specialization by individual venture capitalists... View Details

Keywords: Experience and Expertise; Venture Capital; Organizational Structure; Outcome or Result; Performance Effectiveness; Behavior; Financial Services Industry

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2018
Working Paper

Coordination Frictions in Venture Capital Syndicates

By: Ramana Nanda and Matthew Rhodes-Kropf

An extensive literature on venture capital has studied asymmetric information and agency problems between investors and entrepreneurs, examining how separating entrepreneurs from the investor can create frictions that might inhibit the funding of good projects. It has... View Details

Keywords: Syndication; Venture Capital; Networks; Entrepreneurship

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2019
Chapter

Coordination Frictions in Venture Capital Syndicates

By: Ramana Nanda and Matthew Rhodes-Kropf

Keywords: Syndication; Frictions; Venture Capital; Networks; Entrepreneurship

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2007
Working Paper

Hedge Fund Investor Activism and Takeovers

By: Robin Greenwood and Michael Schor

We examine long-horizon stock returns around hedge fund activism in a comprehensive sample of 13D filings by portfolio investors between 1993 and 2006. Abnormal returns surrounding investor activism are high for the subset of targets that are... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Private Equity; Investment Return; Investment Activism; Investment Portfolio; Corporate Governance

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February 2004 (Revised April 2004)
Case

Orchid Partners: A Venture Capital Start-up

By: Myra M. Hart and Kristin Lieb

The development of a new venture partnership and the challenges associated with raising its first fund are chronicled. The decision to focus on early-stage investments, the determination of the appropriate size of the fund, the fund-raising process, and the steps in... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Venture Capital; Entrepreneurship; Problems and Challenges; Partners and Partnerships; Investment; Motivation and Incentives; Financing and Loans; Personal Development and Career

25 Mar 2020
Blog Post

Black New Venture Competition and Black Tech Master Series Recap

mentors, and advisors. The Black New Venture Competition awarded $175,000, thanks to funding from General Catalyst, Google for Startups, and Khosla Ventures – making this event... View Details

April 1998
Case

Venture Capital in Ireland: Getting Their ACT Together

By: Paul A. Gompers and Catherine M. Conneely

Analyzes the decisions of Niall Carroll, an Irish banker, to start a venture capital fund focused on Ireland. The context of the Irish markets and the nature of Irish opportunities are explored. View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Venture Capital; Markets; Market Entry and Exit; Financial Services Industry; Republic of Ireland

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27 Apr 2021
News

IPO or M&A? How Venture Capital Shapes a Startup's Future

18 Oct 2010
Lessons from the Classroom

Venture Capital’s Disconnect with Clean Tech

without massive follow-on funding. This creates a catch-22 situation. A clean-tech company can't prove its ability to scale without actually scaling. And venture capitalists are wary of funding a company... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Energy; Utilities; Financial Services

06 Aug 2014
News

Why Raising Venture Capital is Wrong for Your Company

05 Nov 2001
Research & Ideas

Venture Capital Goes Boom—or Bust?

Netscape's initial financiers, the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. While Brooks struggled to interest EG&G in backing his concept (EG&G considered Brooks's idea outside its core business), Kleiner... View Details

Keywords: by Paul A. Gompers & Josh Lerner

01 Mar 2005
News

Venture Capital’s Comeback

investing soared from under $10 billion in the mid-1990s to over $100 billion in 2000, before plunging back to earth after the tech bubble burst. Since then, annual venture investing has hovered in the range of $15 billion to $20 billion.... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; Securities, Commodities, and Other Financial Investments; Finance

May 2022 (Revised May 2024)
Case

The Freedom Fund (A): Ending Modern Slavery

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Courtney Han

The Freedom Fund founded in 2013 to end modern slavery had raised more than half its intended target (by 2025) of $200 million. In 2021, impressed by its decentralized-partnering style of operations, philanthropist MacKenzie Scott awarded the Fund a gift of $35 million... View Details

Keywords: Social Issues; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Spending; Decisions; India; Thailand; Ethiopia

01 Oct 2000
News

The Entrepreneurial Venture

the last quarter century, not only in terms of entrepreneurship but also in the dynamics of the free-enterprise system itself. In 1975, venture funding in the United States totaled about $50 million. Today,... View Details

Teaching Interest

Venture Capital and Private Equity (MBA)

By: Josh Lerner

The growth of private equity internationally has been dramatic, to the point that the asset class has been both lauded as the savior and vilified as the cause of our current economic malaise. Over the past two decades, private equity- ranging from venture capital to... View Details

September 2024
Case

TechEnergy Ventures: Innovating Through Corporate Venture Capital

By: Rebecca Karp and Lena Duchene

This case examines TechEnergy Ventures, the corporate venture capital (CVC) arm of the Techint Group, and its role in scaling innovation within the energy sector. Founded in 2021, TechEnergy Ventures operates with a mandate to invest in disruptive technologies to... View Details