Although the benefits of bootstrapping are widely known, decreasing returns to venture growth from this strategy are less understood; falls in returns. Decreasing returns may result from limited scalability and increased costs resulting from reduced legitimacy among stakeholders. Using a sample of high-technology firms, this article tests the non-linear relationship between bootstrapping and venture growth and the moderating effects of alliances on this non-linear relationship. We find that bootstrapping has an inverted-U relationship with venture growth; however, alliance diversity enhances the positive effects of bootstrapping while mitigating its negative effects on venture growth.
