One reason why most of these small caps perform so badly is that...

One reason why most of these small caps perform so badly is that shareholders are so gullible and believe any rubbish directors come out with.

In general a lot of small cap directors are too lazy to do a real job and sit on multiple boards doing pretty much nothing other then mine pockets

If more shareholders took them to task and make them accountable they would be more inclined to have a crack

Many new IPO's raise money for exploration and do nothing except pay themselves high director fees and when that runs out they simply raise more money usually at a lower price

On and on,
at some point they change business structure and start again.