Approximately 25 000 new ventures is registered annually in Sweden. A large proportion of these are declared bankrupt during the first years of operation. Since capital is a vital resource for businesses, the choice of capital structure have been of interest to many researchers over the years. Earlier research on the firms choice of capital structure is primarily focused on larger, established firms. Studies in this area have departed from the basic assumption that capital structure is important to firms success and survival. This study aims to test what influence capital structure have for start-ups, and specifically how firms initial capital structure affect revenue growth and survival in the long term. Empirically the study is based on longitudinal quantitative data on all new ventures registered year 2000 in Sweden. Results from the regression analysis shows that there are significant relationships between capital structure and revenue growth. The result shows that in the long term, a short-term debt to equity ratio is negatively related to revenue growth, while the long-term debt ratio is positively related. Furthermore, the results show that there is no link between short-term debt and firm survival, but that an increased long-term debt reduces chances of survival significantly in the long term. The implication is interesting in a new venture context. The results show, somewhat paradoxically, at the same time as increased long-term debt leads to increased revenue growth it also increases the risk of the firm going bankrupt. This means that new ventures must balance the benefits of debt with its risks in order to construct an efficient growth.