Control Venture Capital as a Growth Catalyst: Founders’ Perceptions from German Early-Stage High-Tech Start-Ups
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Abstract
This article examines how German early-stage high-technology start-ups perceive venture capital (VC) backing as a growth catalyst. It conceptualises founders as “customers” of VC value propositions and analyses alignment between ex-ante expectations and ex-post perceptions of VC contribution. Using a pragmatic mixed-methods design, the study surveys 52 VC-backed high-tech start-ups that received pre-seed, seed or Series A funding between 2016 and 2018. Quantitative results show that founders hold broad and ambitious expectations of VC involvement, valuing not only financing but also strategic advisory, market entry, networking, product support and, to a lesser extent, human capital development. VCs are generally perceived to perform positively, particularly in alleviating financial constraints and enhancing market visibility, yet modest negative expectation–performance gaps are evident in several non-financial roles, especially strategic advisory. Qualitative findings highlight challenges related to role ambiguity, communication quality, trust and limited support for organisational professionalisation. Overall, VC is viewed as a clear growth catalyst, but its effectiveness depends on expectation alignment, relationship quality and the extent to which non-financial
value-adding roles are consciously designed and executed.
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