The Playbook Shift: How 2008–2013 Rewrote Venture Capital

Drexel BSAN 615 — Data Visualization & Analytics · Final Project

Data visualization analysis of how the 2008 financial crisis permanently changed venture capital — sector rotation, the Series A crunch, deal size collapse, and the long-tail startup explosion.

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Project

Course	BSAN 615 — Data Visualization & Analytics
School	LeBow College of Business, Drexel University
Stack	R (ggplot2, dplyr, scales), Python (pandas)
Dataset	Crunchbase VC investment records (investments_VC.csv)
Term	Winter 2026

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Thesis

The 2008 crisis didn't just pause venture capital — it restructured it. Five charts tell the story:

• Chart A: Sector rotation away from hardware/telecom toward software and biotech
• Chart B: The Series A crunch — seed rounds exploded while A rounds dried up
• Chart C: Deal size collapse — median check sizes fell and stayed compressed
• Chart D: Cohort outcomes — 2008–2010 vintages had depressed exit rates
• Chart E: The startup explosion — sheer number of funded companies surged post-2010

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Progression

Mar 16 — Data acquisition and prep

• Sourced Crunchbase VC investment dataset
• Python preprocessing: column cleaning, funding normalization, date parsing
• Identified 2008–2013 as the inflection window

Mar 17 — Chart development

• Built bsan615_final_vc_v2.R — full 5-chart visualization pipeline
• Custom Drexel color palette (navy #07294D, gold #FFC600)
• final_charts.R — cleaned chart output for presentation export

Mar 18 — Final polish and presentation

• BSAN615_final.R — production-ready script with labeled annotations
• Exported Chart A–E PNGs for slide deck
• Final presentation submitted to LeBow faculty

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Stack

Tool	Purpose
R / ggplot2	All 5 visualizations
dplyr	Data wrangling and aggregation
scales	Dollar and percentage formatting
Python / pandas	Initial data cleaning and normalization

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File Map

File	Purpose	Date
prep_data.py	Python data cleaning and normalization	Mar 16
bsan615_final_vc_v2.R	Full 5-chart visualization pipeline	Mar 17
final_charts.R	Cleaned chart exports for presentation	Mar 17
BSAN615_final.R	Production-ready final script	Mar 18
BSAN615_FINAL.Rproj	R project file	Mar 18