Are the Life and Death of an Early Stage Venture Indeed in the Power of the Tongue ? Lessons from Online Crowdfunding Pitches

47 Pages Posted: 24 Apr 2013 Last revised: 2 Mar 2017

See all articles by Hadar Gafni

Hadar Gafni

Autonomous University of Barcelona

Dan Marom

Hebrew University of Jerusalem - Jerusalem School of Business Administration

Orly Sade

Hebrew University of Jerusalem - Department of Finance

Date Written: Feb 27, 2017

Abstract

While presenting an initiative to potential backers, the entrepreneur can choose the extent to which she presents herself, versus presenting the idea. We investigate this decision and its effect on the success of the fundraising on a leading crowdfunding platform (Kickstarter). We employ a text mining quantification method validated by experiments and robustness tests. Our dataset was collected using custom software and includes over 20,000 online business pitches and their results. We find that in Kickstarter fundraising, entrepreneurs' descriptions matter - projects (especially art related) that frequently mentioned the entrepreneurs’ name enjoyed higher rates of success, controlling for relevant variables.

Keywords: crowdfunding, Kickstarter, fundraising

Suggested Citation

Gafni, Hadar and Marom, Dan and Sade, Orly, Are the Life and Death of an Early Stage Venture Indeed in the Power of the Tongue ? Lessons from Online Crowdfunding Pitches (Feb 27, 2017). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2255707 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2255707

Hadar Gafni

Autonomous University of Barcelona

Plaça Cívica
Cerdañola del Valles
Barcelona, Barcelona 08193
Spain

Dan Marom

Hebrew University of Jerusalem - Jerusalem School of Business Administration ( email )

Mount Scopus
Jerusalem, 91905
Israel

Orly Sade (Contact Author)

Hebrew University of Jerusalem - Department of Finance ( email )

Mount Scopus
Jerusalem, 91905
Israel
972 2 588 3227 (Phone)

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