A study of more than 450 startups over three decades found that raising the most capital has no direct correlation to a company’s success, and that over-funding actually allows companies to follow a flawed strategy for too long, the report points out. Simply put, less is more when it comes to capital raised. The study also found that the technical team is the most important factor in a startup’s success (and not the management team), and that a seven-year horizon to a successful “exit” (departure by the venture capitalists) is likely to be the norm, as opposed to the more accelerated timeframe typical of the ‘90s.
Darwin Magazine 1 Oct 2003