Investment Ties Gone Awry
研究发现，早期与风险投资家建立的关系若中断，会因负面信号降低创业企业后续融资估值，尤其会吓跑高质量投资者，说明早期投资关系是把双刃剑。
Forming early relationships increases entrepreneurial ventures’ chances of survival and success by allowing access to critical resources from partners. However, since not all ventures achieve their desired goals through collaboration due to uncertainty, such relationships are sometimes abandoned. This paper investigates the costs of ties that have gone awry in the context of venture capital investments. We conjecture that the adverse perceptions of signals associated with tie discontinuation reduce an investee venture’s valuation in the follow-on round of financing by partially deterring prospective investors, particularly higher-quality ones, from joining the syndicate. By examining large-sample evidence that supports our theory, we suggest that early entrepreneurial ties to venture capitalists may be a double-edged sword, especially in light of the costs of tie discontinuation.