Michael Ewens

David L. and Elsie M. Dodd Professor of Finance, Columbia Business School

Michael Ewens is a David L. and Elsie M. Dodd Professor of Finance at Columbia Business School. His is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), Associate Editor of the Journal of Financial Economics, Associate Editor at the Review of Financial Studies, Associate Editor at the Journal of Corporate Finance, and co-editor of the Journal of Economics & Management Strategy. He received a PhD in from the University of California, San Diego. Since 2006 he has quantitative advisor for Correlation Ventures, a quantitative-focused venture capital firm. Prof. Ewens has taught venture capital and private equity finance at California Institute of Technology, Wharton School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University and University of California San Diego.

Related Publications

Venture Capital Contracts

We develop a dynamic search and matching model to estimate the impact of venture capital (VC) contract terms on start-up outcomes, and the split of value between entrepreneur and investor, in the presence of endogenous selection. Using a new, large data set of rst nancing rounds of start-up companies, we fi nd an internally optimal equity split between VC and entrepreneur that maximizes the probability of success, consistent with standard double moral hazard theories. However, in virtually all deals, VCs use their bargaining power to receive more equity than is value-maximizing for the start-up. In most cases, participation rights and investor board representation reduce company value, while shifting more value to the investors.
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