Market Position and Growth: Integration of Vertical and Horizontal Positions of Venture Capitalists

This paper investigates a relationship between a market position of a venture capitalist(i.e.,VC) and its subsequent performance. Although a VC firm may perform better if it occupies a narrow niche(e.g.,specialist), which allows the firm to attain deep insider knowledge and build an identity as an industry expert, a firm may perform better if it has a broader niche(e.g.,generalist), which gives the firm access to more diverse information and opportunities and to effectively spread out potential risks. Given that accesses to valuable information and chances are critical for success in venture capital industry, we hypothesize that venture capitalists with broad niche width are more likely to grow in the future and analyze 26-year data on US venture capital industry. We found that, in general, a firm can enjoy the advantage of having a broad niche. However, the return to having a broad niche varies depending on its status within the market: a return greater for low- status than high-status VC firms. Our finding suggests that explorative efforts may be more rewarding for low-status VC firms.