Attracting Early-Stage Investors: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Bernstein, Shai; Korteweg, Arthur; Laws, Kevin
• 署名单位: Stanford University; National Bureau of Economic Research; University of Southern California
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF FINANCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-1082
• DOI: 10.1111/jofi.12470
• 发表日期: 2017
• 页码: 509-538
• 关键词: individual investors; performance; entrepreneurship; INVESTMENT; FIRMS; persistence; BUSINESS; ventures; returns; WEALTH

摘要

This paper uses a randomized field experiment to identify which start-up characteristics are most important to investors in early-stage firms. The experiment randomizes investors' information sets of fund-raising start-ups. The average investor responds strongly to information about the founding team, but not to firm traction or existing lead investors. We provide evidence that the team is not merely a signal of quality, and that investing based on team information is a rational strategy. Together, our results indicate that information about human assets is causally important for the funding of early-stage firms and hence for entrepreneurial success.