VC Fund Managers’ Characteristics and Asset Allocates’ Investment Decisions

Last registered on July 27, 2023
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
VC Fund Managers’ Characteristics and Asset Allocates’ Investment Decisions
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0011408
Initial registration date
May 12, 2023

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
May 17, 2023, 2:42 PM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated
July 27, 2023, 10:21 AM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country
United States of America
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Ye Zhang
Affiliation
Columbia University
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Emmanuel Yimfor
PI Affiliation
University of Michigan
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2023-05-15
End date
2023-08-31
Keywords
Behavior, Gender, Labor
Additional Keywords
venture capital, private equity
JEL code(s)
G11, G23, G24, J16
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Brophy et al. (2022) document that compared to venture capital (VC) fund partners (GPs) with VC experience (i.e., ``managers''), GPs with entrepreneurial experience (i.e., ``creators'') are at least 20\% more likely to invest in successful deals through syndication or start a follow-on fund. This experiment is partially designed to complement the empirical findings in Brophy et al. (2022) by examining the investment preferences of US limited partners when making an allocation among different VC funds.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Yimfor, Emmanuel and Ye Zhang. 2023. "VC Fund Managers’ Characteristics and Asset Allocates’ Investment Decisions." AEA RCT Registry. July 27. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.11408-1.1
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We randomize multiple VC fund teams' human capital and organizational capital characteristics orthogonally and independently.
Intervention Start Date
2023-05-15
Intervention End Date
2023-07-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Network evaluations and investment interest ratings. Since the experimental results might be noisy, we will also analyze the subgroup whose submission time is above the 10th, 20th, and 30th quantile of the total submission time.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
The primary outcomes are collected directly from the experiment.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Matching evaluations, return evaluations, risk evaluations, asset allocations (i.e., investment amount), time spent on the experiment
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
For details, please see the attached pre-registration plan.

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
We implement a lab-in-the-field experiment with real US limited partners. Investors evaluate randomized GP profiles in order to receive free due diligence service provided by our collaborative partner companies.
Experimental Design Details
For details, please see the attached pre-registration plan.
Randomization Method
Randomization was implemented in the office by a laptop. Each profile is dynamically randomly drawn from a pool of candidate profiles.
Randomization Unit
Randomization is implemented at the individual level.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
200-500 subjects
Sample size: planned number of observations
200-500 subjects
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
200-500 subjects
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Based on the previous literature, we need to collect at least 240 observations to generate significant results for our main outcomes.
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Health Sciences and Behavioral Sciences (HSBS) University of Michigan
IRB Approval Date
2023-03-13
IRB Approval Number
HUM00231428
Analysis Plan

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Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials