Martin Kenney and John Zysman
Venture Capital: An International Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance, March 2019
What happens when the flow of private funds into so-called "Unicorns" ever slows or reverses? Will they turn into "Cheshire cats" and fade rapidly, leaving only a grin? Since the dot-com crash, digital startups have tapped the gusher of venture capital financing to run prolonged, massive losses while undercutting incumbents across sectors. In this article, BRIE co-directors Martin Kenney and John Zysman critically examine the sustainability of this financing model; if not, we may see a prevalence of firms whose early exits enrich founders and venture capitalists, but whose eventual failures hang other investors out to dry. Download the full paper here.