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The Kauffman foundation published a study about venture capital a few years ago; we read it in my Tech Entrepreneurship class. They reached similar conclusions:

by tdeck 9y ago

The Kauffman foundation published a study about venture capital a few years ago; we read it in my Tech Entrepreneurship class. They reached similar conclusions: http://www.kauffman.org/-/media/kauffman_org/research-reports-and-covers/2012/05/we_have_met_the_enemy_and_he_is_us.pdf http://www.kauffman.org/-/media/kauffman_org/research-report... > Venture capital (VC) has delivered poor returns for more than a decade. VC returns haven’t significantly outperformed the public market since the late 1990s, and, since 1997, less cash has been returned to investors than has been invested in VC. Speculation among industry insiders is that the VC model is broken, despite occasional high-profile successes like Groupon, Zynga, LinkedIn, and Facebook in recent years. EDIT: This is actually linked from the article but I thought it was worth calling out nonetheless.

dxhdr 9y ago
> despite occasional high-profile successes like Groupon, Zynga Are those really the definition of a VC success story?
- esm5 9y ago
  The Kaufmann report was published in 2012. At that time, both companies looked like VC darlings.
  - tdeck 9y ago
    It's funny to look back on that now. Only makes the finding that much more poignant.
- PKop 9y ago
  Did the VCs make money?
SkyMarshal 9y ago
Haven't read your study, but did they take into account the trillions in losses the public markets would have taken in 07/08 if not for the government & Fed bailouts? VC's and their portfolios would have taken losses too, but 1) they tend to have a longer (~10yr) time horizon, and 2) at least the VC equity-based investment model doesn't cause credit bubbles.