A capital partnership: how human and venture capital affect the growth of high-tech start-ups

摘要

Founders' human capital and venture capital (VC) are two fundamental ingredients for new venture success in high-tech sectors. We jointly investigate their influence on the growth performance of a large sample of Italian high-tech start-ups and find:rn1. the importance of both components;rn2. some characteristics of founders' human capital also exert an indirect rather than a direct effect on growth by attracting VC;rn3. the 'coach' function performed by Italian venture capitalists on invested companies is important;rn4. a substitution rather than a complementary relationship exists between these two drivers of firm growth.