New ventures need to leverage the internal resources and external networks． From the perspective of new venture growth，this study defines the internal resources as entrepreneurial orientation and innovation capability，and divides the external networks into sponsorship-based and partnership-based． By using 224 listed new ventures in China，we examine the leveraging relationship between internal and external resources． The result illustrates that: The internal resources and sponsorship-based network constitute the strategic substitution effect，while the internal resources and external partnership-based networks constitute the complementary effect． Our research also shows different external networks exert different leveraging effects on internal resources，and implies that new ventures should cultivate the strategic complementary effect，instead of depending on the strategic substitution effect caused by low-cost sponsorship-based networks．