Trends in Confidence among Silicon Valley Venture Capitalists: Q1 2004–Q2 2017

Abstract

Confidence is an essential factor in making decisions about the future and is a key indicator that is tracked closely for many market participants (e.g., CEOs, consumers, homebuilders, etc.). Venture capitalists, as long-term investors in innovative firms that disrupt existing industries and create new ones, make decisions based in part on their confidence in future conditions. However, there has been relatively little systematic research into venture capitalists’ confidence and its relation to industry outcomes. This article reviews a long-term continuing study of Silicon Valley Venture Capitalists’ confidence in the future high-growth entrepreneurial environment, measuring confidence among Silicon Valley venture capitalists and assessing the factors driving confidence based on the commentary of the responding VCs each quarter from Q1 2004 to the present.