Purpose The purpose of this study is to scrutinize the relationship between the founder’s control level over the startup and the startup’s board size on fundraising efficiency, in addition to examining how these factors are influenced by different resource combinations that the startup attracts. Design/methodology/approach A sample of 1356 firm-year observations is collected from both the startup database of Business Next Media Corp. in Taiwan and the Company Registration and Business Registration Database of Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Department of Commerce. The panel data analytic approach with fixed effect is used for hypothesis testing. Findings The founder’s shareholding negatively correlates with fundraising efficiency; such a negative relationship can be alleviated by incorporating foreign investors. The board size positively correlates with fundraising efficiency; such a positive relationship can be mitigated by the inclusion of external corporate directors. Originality/value While a conventional understanding posits that startups with diverse, multiplex and symmetrical boards can rapidly construct a diverse alliance portfolio, henceforth always being beneficial to growth, this research challenges this notion by probing the possible adverse effects of having an excessive number of outside corporate directors on a startup’s fundraising efficiency.
Read full abstract