Paul A. Gompers, Will Gornall, Steven N. Kaplan and Ilya A. Strebulaev. Journal of Financial Economics 135(1), 169–190 (2020).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfineco.2019.06.011

The authors surveyed 885 institutional venture capitalists at 681 firms about screening, investment structure, monitoring and advice. Respondents evaluated management teams alongside business models, products, markets and other factors; priorities varied by stage and industry. These historical self-reports show the breadth of investment evaluation. They do not measure current AI-driven deal volume, isolate a lack of understanding, or test 1Cademy or investment returns from a learning tool.

Source inspected: publisher abstract and introduction; related working-paper record https://www.nber.org/papers/w22587. Inspected 10 November 2026.