Title: Venture capitalists' confidence, capital commitments, and capital investments

Authors: Mark V. Cannice, Cathy S. Goldberg

Addresses: University of San Francisco, School of Business and Management, 2130 Fulton Street, San Francisco, CA 94117, USA. ' University of San Francisco, School of Business and Management, 2130 Fulton Street, San Francisco, CA 94117, USA

Abstract: Confidence among consumers and managers continues to be a closely watched economic indicator. Venture capitalists are essential in the development of many high-growth ventures; however, VC sentiment has not before been systematically tracked. We surveyed VC confidence quarterly since Q1 2004 and find that increasing VC confidence is coincident with increasing VC investment; however, VC confidence decreases one quarter after their increased investment activity, possibly due to buyer|s remorse. Additionally, VC confidence decreases one quarter after increasing capital commitments to VC industry funds, possibly due to concern of too much money chasing too few good deals.

Keywords: venture capital; confidence; capital commitments; capital investment; portfolio firms; Silicon Valley; USA; United States.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTE.2009.027547

International Journal of Technoentrepreneurship, 2009 Vol.2 No.1, pp.79 - 98

Published online: 31 Jul 2009 *

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