Contruction of the Cultural Homogeneity in VC Dataset

This page details the (currently 1st draft version) construction of the Cultural Homogenteity in Venture Capital Data. This data is posted for reference (and debate) by project members. The choices made in constraints, variables, processing, and so forth are often arbitrary and will no doubt be changed as the project progresses.

Constraints on Retrieved Data

The following constraints were placed in the retrieval of data from VentureXpert (via SDC Platinum):

• Portfolio Company Date of First Investment: 2003-2007 inclusive
• Portfolio Company Nation: US
• Venture Capital Fund Nation: US
• Portfolio Company Standard US Venture Disbursement: Yes (Note: Correlates almost perfectly with PWC Moneytree VC Deals - excludes private equity, angel investment, and other non-VC, as recognised by Thomson)
• Venture Capital Fund PWC Moneytree Deals: Yes (see above)

Retrieved Data by VentureXpert Perspective

The data was processed by the Normalizer.pl perl script to produce 3rd normal form relational database tables. In the case of executive titles this was problematic and required rekeying in the database.

Portfolio Companies

• Company (Primary Key: CoExex-1)
  • CoExec-1, DateCompanyReceivedFirstInvestment, CompanyFoundingDate, CompanyZipCode, CompanyCity, CompanyAreaCode, CompanyCounty, CompanyName, CompanyNation, CompanyNationCode, CompanyState, CompanyStateCode, CompanyStreetAddressLine1, CompanyStreetAddressLine2, CompanyIndustryClass, CompanyIndustryMajorGroup, CompanyIndustryMinorGroup, CompanyIndustrySubGroup1, CompanyIndustrySubGroup2, CompanyIndustrySubGroup3, StandardUSVentureDisbursement
• CoExec (Primary Key: Co-Exec-3)
  • CoExec-1, CoExec-3, ExecutiveisNonManagingBoardMember, ExecutiveisPrimaryContact, ExecutivesCity, ExecutivesFirstName, ExecutivesLastName, ExecutivesNamePrefix, ExecutivesEMailAddress, ExecutivesPhoneNumber, ExecutivesPreviousPosition
• CoExecTitle (Primary Key: Co-Exec-2)
  • CoExec-1, CoExec-2, ExecutivesJobTitle

Fund

• Fund (Primary Key: FundExec-1)
  • FundExec-1, FirmFundList1stCloseDateofeachFund, FirmFoundingDate, FundInitialClosing, FundAreaCode, FundCity, FundCounty, FundStageFocus, FundInvestmentType, FundMSA, FundMSACode, FundName, FundNation, FundNationCode, FundRaisingStatus, FundSequenceNo, FundSequenceType, FundSizeMil, FundState, FundStateCode, FundTargetSize000, FundTypeLongDescription, FundTypeShortDescription, FundYear, FundZipCode, FirmReportedCapitalunderMgmtMil, FirmNation, FirmName, FirmGeographyPreference, FirmIndustryPreference, FirmPreferredInvestmntRoleCode, FirmInvestmentStagePreference, FirmPreferredMaxInvestmentMil, FirmPreferredMinInvestmentMil, FirmState, FirmZipCode, FirmStateCode, PWCMoneytreeDealsYN, FirmFundListNameofeachFund
• FundExec (Primary Key: FundExec-2)
  • FundExec-1, FundExec-3, ExecutiveisNonManagingBoardMember, ExecutiveisPrimaryContact, ExecutivesCity, ExecutivesFirstName, ExecutivesLastName, ExecutivesNamePrefix, ExecutivesPreviousPosition
• FundExecTitle (Primary Key: FundExec-2)
  • FundExec-1, FundExec-2, ExecutivesJobTitle

Disbursement

• Round (Primary Key: Round-2)
  • Round-1, Round-2, RoundDates, CompanyStageLevel1ateachRoundDate, RoundAmtDisclosed000, RoundAmtEstimated000, RoundNumbers, NumberofInvestorseaRound
• RoundCompany (Primary Key: Round-1)
  • Round-1, CompanyName, CompanyState, CompanyStateCode, TotalKnownAmtInvestedinCompany000
• RoundInvestor (Primary Key: Round-3)
  • Date, DisclosedAmtk, Investor, Round-1, Round-3

Lookup Tables

Lookup tables for Stage, State and VentureXpert Minor Industry Code are provided on the VentureXpert page. The numeric values were recorded in the database.

Processing the Data

The following problems were addressed and steps undertaken:

• Executives (both Company and Fund executives) have multiple job titles - the first listed title was taken (requires rekeying)
• Executive Name Prefixes were parsed for Dr and Ms (recorded as binary codes)
• Anglicized First Names and genders were (incompletely) identified using the U.S. Social Security Administration Baby Names list
• The Company and fund zip codes were standardized to 5 digits
• Companies must not have null or "Undisclosed" names
• Funds must not be named "Undisclosed Fund" and must have participated in a round in the period of interest (i.e. within the constraint on date of first investment on companies)