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The impact of entrepreneurs' oral ‘pitch’ presentation skills on business angels' initial screening investment decisions

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  • Colin Clark

Abstract

This study adds new insights to the growing body of research showing that entrepreneurs' communication skills and personal attributes influence investor decision making. Twenty-four business angels attending a UK investor forum completed questionnaires evaluating 32 ‘presentational’ and ‘non-presentational’ aspects of three entrepreneurs' oral pitch presentations. The business angels' level of investor interest was significantly related to their evaluations of the quality and content of the entrepreneurs' presentations: the higher an entrepreneur's overall presentation score, the greater the likelihood that the business angels would be interested in pursuing that investment opportunity. Presentational factors (relating to the entrepreneurs' style of delivery, etc.) tended to have the highest influence on the overall score an entrepreneur received as well as on business angels' level of investment interest. However, the business angels appeared to be unaware of (or were reluctant to acknowledge) the influence presentational factors had on their investment-related decisions: the stated reasons for their post-presentation intentions were focused firmly on substance-oriented non-presentational criteria (company, market, product, funding/finance issues, etc.). More generally, comments about the entrepreneurs' presentations centred on presentational issues relating to clarity/understandability and structure, the level of information provided, the entrepreneurs' personal characteristics, and their ability to sell themselves and their investment opportunity.

Suggested Citation

  • Colin Clark, 2008. "The impact of entrepreneurs' oral ‘pitch’ presentation skills on business angels' initial screening investment decisions," Venture Capital, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(3), pages 257-279, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:veecee:v:10:y:2008:i:3:p:257-279
    DOI: 10.1080/13691060802151945
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    Cited by:

    1. Aaron H. Anglin & Shane W. Reid & Jeremy C. Short, 2023. "More Than One Way to Tell a Story: A Configurational Approach to Storytelling in Crowdfunding," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 47(2), pages 461-494, March.
    2. Carpentier, Cécile & Suret, Jean-Marc, 2015. "Angel group members' decision process and rejection criteria: A longitudinal analysis," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 808-821.
    3. Fei Qin & Tomasz Mickiewicz & Saul Estrin, 2022. "Homophily and peer influence in early-stage new venture informal investment," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 59(1), pages 93-116, June.
    4. Jascha-Alexander Koch & Michael Siering, 2019. "The recipe of successful crowdfunding campaigns," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 29(4), pages 661-679, December.
    5. Clingingsmith, David & Shane, Scott, 2017. "Training Aspiring Entrepreneurs to Pitch Experienced Investors: Evidence from a Field Experiment in the United States," SocArXiv yzpvf, Center for Open Science.
    6. Thanh Huynh, 2016. "Early-stage fundraising of university spin-offs: a study through demand-site perspectives," Venture Capital, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(4), pages 345-367, October.
    7. Jean Clarke & Nicholas Llewellyn & Joep Cornelissen & Rowena Viney, 2021. "Gesture Analysis and Organizational Research," Post-Print hal-02299462, HAL.
    8. Werner Liebregts & Pourya Darnihamedani & Eric Postma & Martin Atzmueller, 2020. "The promise of social signal processing for research on decision-making in entrepreneurial contexts," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 55(3), pages 589-605, October.
    9. Yenchun Jim Wu & Chih-Hung Yuan & Chia-I Pan, 2018. "Entrepreneurship Education: An Experimental Study with Information and Communication Technology," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-13, March.
    10. Bergner, Sören Martin & Bräutigam, Rainer & Evers, Maria Theresia & Spengel, Christoph, 2017. "The use of SME tax incentives in the European Union," ZEW Discussion Papers 17-006, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    11. Kourosh Shafi, 2021. "Investors’ evaluation criteria in equity crowdfunding," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(1), pages 3-37, January.
    12. Mojca Svetek, 2023. "The Role of Entrepreneurs’ Perceived Competence and Cooperativeness in Early-Stage Financing," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 47(6), pages 2047-2076, November.
    13. David Clingingsmith & Scott Shane, 2018. "Training Aspiring Entrepreneurs to Pitch Experienced Investors: Evidence from a Field Experiment in the United States," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(11), pages 5164-5179, November.
    14. Ana Paula Cusolito & Ernest Dautovic & David McKenzie, 2021. "Can Government Intervention Make Firms More Investment Ready? A Randomized Experiment in the Western Balkans," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 103(3), pages 428-442, July.
    15. Lefebvre, Vincent & Certhoux, Gilles & Radu-Lefebvre, Miruna, 2022. "Sustaining trust to cross the Valley of Death: A retrospective study of business angels’ investment and reinvestment decisions," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    16. Lerner, Daniel A., 2016. "Behavioral disinhibition and nascent venturing: Relevance and initial effects on potential resource providers," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 234-252.
    17. Melissa S. Cardon & Cheryl Mitteness & Richard Sudek, 2017. "Motivational Cues and Angel Investing: Interactions among Enthusiasm, Preparedness, and Commitment," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 41(6), pages 1057-1085, November.
    18. Indu Khurana & Daniel J. Lee, 2023. "Gender bias in high stakes pitching: an NLP approach," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 60(2), pages 485-502, February.
    19. Parhankangas, Annaleena & Ehrlich, Michael, 2014. "How entrepreneurs seduce business angels: An impression management approach," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 543-564.
    20. Rayenda Khresna Brahmana & Maria Kontesa, 2023. "‘No Better Fund Without Me!’ Do Narcissistic Start-up Entrepreneurs Succeed in Venture Funding?," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, vol. 32(3), pages 638-666, November.
    21. Brett Anthony White & John Dumay, 2020. "The angel investment decision: insights from Australian business angels," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(3), pages 3133-3162, September.
    22. Maxwell, Andrew L. & Jeffrey, Scott A. & Lévesque, Moren, 2011. "Business angel early stage decision making," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 212-225, March.
    23. repec:wsi:acsxxx:v:21:y:2019:i:08:n:s1363919619500105 is not listed on IDEAS
    24. Michael Marcin Kunz & Ulrich Bretschneider & Max Erler & Jan Marco Leimeister, 2017. "An empirical investigation of signaling in reward-based crowdfunding," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 425-461, September.

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