Gender Gaps in Venture Capital Performance

58 Pages Posted: 4 Jun 2014 Last revised: 2 Sep 2020

See all articles by Paul A. Gompers

Paul A. Gompers

Harvard Business School - Finance Unit; Harvard University - Entrepreneurial Management Unit; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)

Vladimir Mukharlyamov

Georgetown University - McDonough School of Business

Emily Weisburst

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) - Luskin School of Public Affairs; University of Texas at Austin

Yuhai Xuan

University of California, Irvine - Paul Merage School of Business

Date Written: July 7, 2020

Abstract

We explore gender differences in performance in a comprehensive sample of venture capital investments in the United States. Investments by female venture capital investors have significantly lower success rates than investments by their male colleagues controlling for personal characteristics including employment and educational history and portfolio companies’ characteristics. The gender differences in investment outcomes are not due to female investors being less skilled but rather largely attributable to female investors receiving less benefit from the track records of their colleagues. Performance differences disappear in older, larger firms and firms with other female investors. This supports the view that formal feedback mechanisms and hierarchies are potentially useful in ameliorating the female performance gap.

Suggested Citation

Gompers, Paul A. and Mukharlyamov, Vladimir and Weisburst, Emily and Xuan, Yuhai, Gender Gaps in Venture Capital Performance (July 7, 2020). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2445497 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2445497

Paul A. Gompers (Contact Author)

Harvard Business School - Finance Unit ( email )

Boston, MA 02163
United States
617-495-6297 (Phone)
617-496-8443 (Fax)

Harvard University - Entrepreneurial Management Unit ( email )

Cambridge, MA 02163
United States

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

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Cambridge, MA 02138
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European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)

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Belgium

HOME PAGE: http://www.ecgi.org

Vladimir Mukharlyamov

Georgetown University - McDonough School of Business ( email )

3700 O Street, NW
Washington, DC 20057
United States

HOME PAGE: http://https://sites.google.com/view/mukharlyamov

Emily Weisburst

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) - Luskin School of Public Affairs ( email )

3250 Public Affairs Building
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1656
United States

University of Texas at Austin ( email )

2317 Speedway
Austin, TX Texas 78712
United States

Yuhai Xuan

University of California, Irvine - Paul Merage School of Business ( email )

4291 Pereira Drive
Irvine, CA California 92697-3125
United States

HOME PAGE: http://yuhai.merage.uci.edu/

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