We build a simple formal model of governance. Investments and control rights over assets and labor are fully contractible, but final production decisions are ex ante uncontractible, and ex post negotiations are inefficient. If sunk costs are low, suppliers own assets and trade takes the form of...

We challenge the widely accepted premise that the valuation of an early-stage firm is simply the capital invested (USD) divided by the equity received (%). Instead, we argue that this calculation determines the break-even point for the investor; for example, investing USD 1.0 in exchange for a...