Effect of Professional Background on Venture Capital Proposal Evaluation

Abstract

This paper reports on the differences in investment related activities and evaluation criteria of venture capitalists having a business background compared to venture capitalists having a non-business background . Data was collected from a  nationwide survey  of 72 venture capitalists. The results show that venture capitalists having a non-business" background invest in earlier stages of the firm. require a shorter payback period and make more follow-up investments than business background venture capitalists. The non-business background venture capitalists place greater importance on the uniqueness of the product , the cost structure of the project and the entrepreneur' s health and  less importance on exit procedures  than business background  venture capitalists