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Networking Frictions in Venture Capital, and the Gender Gap in Entrepreneurship

By: Sabrina T. Howell and Ramana Nanda
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:58
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Abstract

We find that male participants in Harvard Business School’s New Venture Competition who were randomly exposed to more VC investors on their panel were substantially more likely to start a VC-backed startup post-graduation, indicating that access to investors impacts fundraising independent of the quality of ideas. However, female participants experience no benefit from exposure to male or female VCs, which appears related to a reduced propensity to reach out to VCs to whom they were exposed. Our results therefore also demonstrate gender-based differences in the degree to which increased exposure to investors can address networking frictions in venture capital.

Keywords

Networks; Information Frictions; Entrepreneurship; Gender; Venture Capital

Citation

Howell, Sabrina T., and Ramana Nanda. "Networking Frictions in Venture Capital, and the Gender Gap in Entrepreneurship." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 19-105, April 2019. (Revised July 2020.)

About The Author

Ramana Nanda

Entrepreneurial Management
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