Human Capital Breadth and the Financing of Innovative Startups

Teodor Duevski
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Teodor Duevski: HEC Paris

No 1605, HEC Research Papers Series from HEC Paris

Abstract: I examine how the breadth of venture capital (VC) partners' human capital influences investment selection, startup performance, and innovation. Partners with broader human capital are more likely to lead investments in novel startups with previously unexplored business models and significantly increase their likelihood of major success; however, they underperform when leading non-novel deals. Exploiting plausibly exogenous variation in partner time constraints as a shock to the within-VC firm likelihood of leading a deal, I provide causal evidence for these effects. A theoretical model endogenizes startup creation, partner assignment, and investment to rationalize the empirical findings and provide additional testable predictions. The results highlight the nuanced value of human capital breadth in financing innovation.

Keywords: Venture capital; human capital; financing novelty; portfolio choice; performance; exploration-exploitation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G11 G24 G34 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 144 pages
Date: 2025-08-01, Revised 2025-12-05
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ebg:heccah:1605

DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.5239857

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