Gavin Reid presents a systematic analysis of what drives investor-investee relations in venture capital markets. In the first analytical work to use a unified framework, he draws upon a modern and general approach to contracting relations, namely principal-agent analysis. This book establishes a clear theoretical framework involving risk management, information handling and the 'trading' of risk and information. Using powerful modern theory as a general and coherent frame of reference to analyse an extensive body of new evidence, the author shows how top investors manage risk and monitor inves