ABSTRACT

Information between entrepreneurs and venture capitalists (VCs) is often shared unequally. VCs are experienced and professional dealmakers, while entrepreneurs have great knowledge about their venture but usually limited knowledge about VCs’ financing process and requirements. For entrepreneurs, VCs’ asymmetric information advantage can lead to difficulties in receiving funding, unfavorable terms, or negative startup experiences. Based on in-depth interviews with 20 Swedish entrepreneurs, this study investigates entrepreneurial experiences of mitigating the problems arising from information asymmetry in a VC–entrepreneur relationship. Four themes emerged from these interviews: (1) choosing the optimal time to raise the initial external capital, (2) ensuring that the VC fits the startup, (3) studying and understanding the venture capital process beforehand, and (4) building an open and honest relationship with the VC. Although entrepreneurs have not developed any formal tools similar to what VCs employ to mitigate information asymmetry risks, our study shows that entrepreneurs use informal tools based on their own and others’ experiences. This indicates that the entrepreneur might play a more active role in the VC–entrepreneur relationship than most previous studies have assumed.

摘要

企业家和风险资本家（VC）之间的信息通常不平等地共享。风险投资人是经验丰富且专业的交易员，企业家对风险投资有丰富的知识，但通常对风险投资人的融资过程和要求知之甚少。对于企业家而言，风险投资人的信息不对称优势可能导致其在获得资金，困难的条款或负面的创业经历方面遇到困难。在对20位瑞典企业家进行的深入访谈的基础上，本研究调查了缓解VC与企业家关系中因信息不对称而产生的问题的创业经验。这些访谈产生了四个主题：（1）选择最佳时间筹集初始外部资金；（2）确保风险投资人适合初创企业；（3）事先研究和了解风险投资流程，以及（4）与风险投资建立开放和诚实的关系。尽管企业家尚未开发出类似于风险投资公司用来减轻信息不对称风险的正式工具，但我们的研究表明，企业家根据自己和他人的经验使用非正式工具。这表明企业家可能比以前的大多数研究更加积极地在风险投资与企业家的关系中发挥作用。