The Venture Capital Cycle - Hardcover

Gompers, Paul

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0262071940 ISBN 13: 9780262071949

Publisher: MIT Press, 1999

Synopsis

The venture captial industry in the United States has grown dramatically over the last two decades. Annual inflows to venture funds have expanded from virtually zero in the mid-1970s to more than US$9 billion in 1997. Many of the most visible new firms -including Apple Computer, Genentech, Intel, Lotus, Microsoft and Yahoo - have been backed by venture capital funds. Yet despite this tremendous growth and its visible success, venture capital remains a mysterious industry. Numerous misconceptions persist about the nature and role of venture capitalists. Paul Gompers and Josh Lerner's extensive research on venture capital organizations is based largely on original data sets developed through close relationships with institutional investors in venture capital funds and investment advisors. "The Venture Capital Cycle" synthesizes their path-breaking work. After an historical overview, the book looks at the formation of funds, the investment of the funds in operating companies and the liquidation of these investments. The concluding chapter provides a road map for future research in this growing area. Three themes run throughout the book. The first is that all venture capitalists confront tremendous incentive and information problems. The second is that because the various stages of the venture capital processes are related, the entire process is best viewed as a cycle. The third is that, unlike most financial markets, the venture capital industry adjusts very slowly to shifts in the supply of capital and the demand for financing.

About this title

Review

"In "The Venture Capital Cycle" Paul Gompers and Josh Lerner bridge the gap between practice and theory, systematicaly describing and analyzing important issues influencing investment in entrepreneurial start-ups. By undertaking rich empirical analysis in the context of an analytically sound framework, the authors combine real-world sensibility and intellectual rigor, making this book essential reading for investors, venture capitalists, and students of finance."--David F. Swensen, Chief Investment Officer, Yale University

About the Author

Paul Gompers is the Roy and Elizabeth Simmons Professor of Business Administration and is affiliated with the National Bureau of Economic Research. Josh Lerner is Jacob H. Schiff Professor of Investment Banking at Harvard Business School, with a joint appointment in the Finance and Entrepreneurial Units. He is the author of The Boulevard of Broken Dreams: Why Public Efforts to Boost Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Have Failed and What to Do About It.

Edition details

• Publisher: MIT Press
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0262071940
• ISBN 13: 9780262071949
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 382