Will Gornall
Associate Professor of Finance
CV
Papers
Code and Data
Teaching Slides
Sauder School of Business
University of British Columbia
2053 Main Mall, Vancouver
BC V6T 1Z2, Canada
(604) 827-4372
will.gornall@sauder.ubc.ca
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Customer Data Access and Fintech Entry: Early Evidence from Open Banking
with
Tania Babina,
Saleem A. Bahaj,
Greg Buchak,
Filippo De Marco,
Angus K. Foulis,
Francesco Mazzola, and
Tong Yu.
Forthcoming in Journal of Financial Economics
Cite in Bibtex
@article{babina2024ob,
title={Customer Data Access and Fintech Entry: {Early} Evidence from Open Banking},
author={Babina, Tania and Bahaj, Saleem A. and Buchak, Greg and De Marco, Filippo and Foulis, Angus K. and Gornall, Will and Mazzola, Francesco and Yu, Tong},
journal={Journal of Financial Economics},
year={Forthcoming}
}
We provide a global overview of the causes and effects of open banking, policies that empower customers to share their banking data with fintechs
A previous version of this manuscript was distributed as "Customer Data Access and Fintech Entry: Early Evidence from Open Banking" (2022) by Tania Babina,
Greg Buchak,
and Will Gornall.
Do Employees Cheer for Private Equity? The Heterogeneous Effects of Buyouts on Job Quality
with
Oleg Gredil,
Sabrina T. Howell,
Xing Liu,
and
Jason Sockin,
Forthcoming in Management Science
Cite in Bibtex
@article{gornall2023lbos,
title={Do employees cheer for private equity? {The} heterogeneous effects of buyouts on job quality},
author={Gornall, Will and Gredil, Oleg and Howell, Sabrina T and Liu, Xing and Sockin, Jason},
journal={Management Science},
year={Forthcoming}
}
We link private equity leveraged buyouts to reduced perceived job quality through risk-bearing channels
Gender, Race, and Entrepreneurship: A Randomized Field Experiment on Venture Capitalists and Angels
with
Ilya A. Strebulaev,
Forthcoming in Management Science
Cite in Bibtex
@article{gornall2023gender,
title={Gender, race, and entrepreneurship: A randomized field experiment on venture capitalists and angels},
author={Gornall, Will and Strebulaev, Ilya A},
journal={Management Science},
year={Forthcoming}
}
We study gender and race in high-impact entrepreneurship using a field experiment
Mentioned in BJ, Economist, Guardian, MarketWatch
Venture Capitalists and COVID-19
with
Paul A. Gompers,
Steven N. Kaplan,
and
Ilya A. Strebulaev,
Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis 2021, 56(7), 2474-2499
Cite in Bibtex
@article{gompers2021venture,
title={Venture capitalists and COVID-19},
author={Gompers, Paul and Gornall, Will and Kaplan, Steven N and Strebulaev, Ilya A},
journal={Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis},
volume={56},
number={7},
pages={2474--2499},
year={2021},
publisher={Cambridge University Press}
}
We survey 1,000 venture capitalists on how they were affected by COVID-19
Mentioned in Inst. Investor, HLS Corp. Gov. Forum
Squaring Venture Capital Valuations with Reality
with
Ilya A. Strebulaev,
Journal of Financial Economics 2020, 135(1), 120–143; Doriot Award
Cite in Bibtex
@article{gornall2020squaring,
title={Squaring venture capital valuations with reality},
author={Gornall, Will and Strebulaev, Ilya A},
journal={Journal of Financial Economics},
volume={135},
number={1},
pages={120--143},
year={2020},
publisher={Elsevier}
}
We model venture capital-backed company exits and show post--money valuations exceed fair values by 48%
Teaching slides about post-money valuation and value
Code
Tool to value employee stock options
Mentioned in Barrons 1, 2, BC Business, BIV, BJ, Bloomberg, Bloomberg, TV, Business Insider 1, 2, CNBC, Economist 1, 2, El Economista, Entreprenuer 1, 2, Financial Post, Forbes, Fortune 1, 2, G&M, Inc., Institutional Investor, JDSupra, 36kr 1, 2, Les Echos, MSN, NBER, NY Mag, NYT, Pitchbook 1, 2, 3, Reuters, Stanford, Tech Crunch, TechVibes, The Real Deal, Wired, WSJ 1, 2, 3
How Do Venture Capitalists Make Decisions?
with
Paul A. Gompers,
Steven N. Kaplan,
and
Ilya A. Strebulaev,
Journal of Financial Economics 2020, 135(1), 169–190; Jensen Prize
Cite in Bibtex
@article{gompers2020venture,
title={How do venture capitalists make decisions?},
author={Gompers, Paul A and Gornall, Will and Kaplan, Steven N and Strebulaev, Ilya A},
journal={Journal of Financial Economics},
volume={135},
number={1},
pages={169--190},
year={2020},
publisher={Elsevier}
}
We survey 885 venture capitalists to learn how they make decisions
Summarized in this Harvard Business Review article
Teaching slides on the venture capital investment selection process
Mentioned in Bizztor, Chicago, Havard Law School Forum, Stanford, VentureBeat
Financing as a Supply Chain: The Capital Structure of Banks and Borrowers
with
Ilya A. Strebulaev,
Journal of Financial Economics 2018, 129(3), 510-530
Cite in Bibtex
@article{gornall2018financing,
title={Financing as a supply chain: The capital structure of banks and borrowers},
author={Gornall, Will and Strebulaev, Ilya A},
journal={Journal of Financial Economics},
volume={129},
number={3},
pages={510--530},
year={2018},
publisher={Elsevier}
}
Modeling supply chain interactions between bank and borrower capital structures shows why highly levered financial intermediaries can offer the lowest interest rates
Code
Mentioned in Fortune
Locally-Capped Investment Products and the Retail Investor
with
Carole Bernard
and
Phelim Boyle,
Journal of Derivatives 2011, 18(4), 72-88
Cite in Bibtex
@article{bernard2011locally,
title={Locally Capped Investment Products and the RetailInvestor},
author={Bernard, Carole and Boyle, Phelim P and Gornall, William},
journal={The Journal of Derivatives},
volume={18},
number={4},
pages={72--88},
year={2011},
publisher={Institutional Investor Journals Umbrella}
}
A popular but poorly understood type of structured financial product is overpriced and marketed with unreasonably optimistic prospectuses
Working Papers
Funding Payments Crisis-Proofed Bitcoin's Perpetual Futures
with
Martin Rinaldi,
Yizhou Xiao,
Cite in Bibtex
@article{gornall2025perps,
title={Funding Payments Crisis-Proofed Bitcoin's Perpetual Futures},
author={Gornall, Will and Rinaldi, Martin and Xia, Yizhou},
journal={Available at SSRN 5036933},
year={2024}
}
We show perpetual futures contracts have better performance during market turbulance and explain this using a model of intermediary frictions
Non-Peer-Reviewed Publications
The Contracting and Valuation of Venture Capital-Backed Companies
with
Ilya A. Strebulaev,
Cite in Bibtex
In: Eckbo, B.E., Phillips, G.M. , Sorensen, M. (eds) Handbook of the Economics of Corporate Finance. Amsterdam: North-Holland, an imprint of Elsevier, 2023. 1, 3-76
@incollection{gornall2023vcvaluationcontracts,
title = {Chapter 1 - The contracting and valuation of venture capital-backed companies},
editor = {B. Espen Eckbo and Gordon M. Phillips and Morten Sorensen},
series = {Handbook of the Economics of Corporate Finance},
publisher = {North-Holland},
volume = {1},
number = {1},
pages = {3-76},
year = {2023},
booktitle = {Private Equity and Entrepreneurial Finance},
issn = {2949-964X},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.hecf.2023.02.001},
url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2949964X23000012},
author = {Will Gornall and Ilya A. Strebulaev},
}
We outline key considerations for startup financing in a handbook chapter that may be a useful reference for faculty, students, and practitioners
Venture Capital Valuation
with
Ilya A. Strebulaev,
Cite in Bibtex
In: Cumming, D., Hammer, B. (eds) The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Private Equity. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2023. 1-5.
@Inbook{gornall2020palgrave,
author="Gornall, Will and Strebulaev, Ilya A.",
editor="Cumming, Douglas and Hammer, Benjamin",
title="Venture Capital Valuation",
bookTitle="The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Private Equity",
year="2020",
publisher="Springer International Publishing",
address="Cham",
pages="1--5",
isbn="978-3-030-38738-9",
doi="10.1007/978-3-030-38738-9_10-1",
url="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38738-9_10-1"
}
We provide a brief outline of startup valuation considerations
Code and Data
Teaching Material
CV
Dog photo