Cost of Experimentation and the Evolution of Venture Capital

45 Pages Posted: 23 Apr 2018 Last revised: 4 Jul 2024

See all articles by Michael Ewens

Michael Ewens

Columbia Business School; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Ramana Nanda

Imperial College Business School; Harvard University - Entrepreneurial Management Unit

Matthew Rhodes-Kropf

Harvard Business School - Entrepreneurial Management Unit; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: April 2018

Abstract

We study how technological shocks to the cost of starting new businesses have led the venture capital model to adapt in fundamental ways over the prior decade. We both document and provide a framework to understand the changes in the investment strategy of venture capitalists (VCs) in recent years — an increased prevalence of a “spray and pray” investment approach — where investors provide a little funding and limited governance to an increased number of startups that they are more likely to abandon, but where initial experiments significantly inform beliefs about the future potential of the venture. This adaptation and related entry by new financial intermediaries has led to a disproportionate rise in innovations where information on future prospects is revealed quickly and cheaply, and reduced the relative share of innovation in complex technologies where initial experiments cost more and reveal less.

Suggested Citation

Ewens, Michael and Nanda, Ramana and Rhodes-Kropf, Matthew, Cost of Experimentation and the Evolution of Venture Capital (April 2018). NBER Working Paper No. w24523, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3167038

Michael Ewens (Contact Author)

Columbia Business School ( email )

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Ramana Nanda

Imperial College Business School ( email )

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Harvard University - Entrepreneurial Management Unit ( email )

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Matthew Rhodes-Kropf

Harvard Business School - Entrepreneurial Management Unit ( email )

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United States

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

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