Despite predominant views of venture capitals (VCs)’ positive effects on the success of funded firms (i.e., ventures), empirical studies in aggregate reflect inconsistent findings in terms of the direction and magnitude of the relationship. Drawing on the principal problem perspective, our study investigates relationships between VCs’ (i.e., principals) governance tools, ownership and board involvement, and various venture outcomes. Based on a sample of 61,891 for VC ownership and 5,485 for VC board, respectively, in the US from 1980 to 2019, the results of our meta-analysis support VCs’ short-term orientation as both VC ownership and board involvement enhances IPO performance, but not financial performance. However, entrepreneur ownership positively moderates on the VC ownership-IPO performance and VC ownership-financial performance, respectively, suggesting that it mitigates any effect of VCs’ short-term orientation.
