Nearly Half of US Venture Capital Professionals in Middle To Senior Positions Have No Successful Investments

A study of 12,069 middle and top-level venture capital professionals at US firms between 1996 and 2025 found that 46% never achieved a successful investment. The research by Stanford professor Ilya Strebulaev and Blake Jackson classified directors, principals, and general partners as successful if they had at least one investment that either became a unicorn, exited at twice the entry cost, or went public. (The analysis deemed any investment with 2x return 'successful,' though one should know that in the venture capital industry, the majority of bets don't return anything and the model works because of power law.)

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