Value-Added Investing

Abstract

Besides supplying capital and taking board seats, what do venture capitalists do to add value to their portfolio companies? This article presents a framework that describes how one early stage venture capital firm makes its expertise and contacts available to an often inexperienced management team in order to move a portfolio company further and faster along the process leading to an IPO or sale. This conceptual framework should be of interest to venture capitalists and private equity investors wanting to think systematically about how they can work with their portfolio companies and provides case studies.