Entrepreneurs rarely consider who will ultimately own their startups—and what that means for founders—when they court venture capitalists. New research suggests they should.

A startup funded by VCs who tend to work with the same group of partners are more likely to seek a faster exit by selling the company to a larger one. In contrast, startups funded by a VC syndicate with less familiar co-investors are most likely to exit through a potentially splashy IPO that could let founders retain more control, says Harvard Business School professor Rory McDonald, who evaluated more than 42,000 new ventures in a new study. READ MORE