How Does Feedback Impact New Ventures? Fundraising in a Randomized Field Experiment

54 Pages Posted: 20 Apr 2016 Last revised: 11 Oct 2017

See all articles by Rodrigo Andres Wagner

Rodrigo Andres Wagner

UAI Business School ; Growth Lab - Harvard University (Center for Int. Development)

Date Written: October 9, 2017

Abstract

Financial models assume startups learn from feedback, but it is hard to test it empirically. First, because demand and supply of information are endogenous. Second, because business education and acceleration bundle feedback with confounding treatments. This paper is the first randomized experiment testing how unsolicited written feedback impacts fundraising of high-stakes entrepreneurs. All 88 teams entered a global accelerator and received $40,000. A random half of them additionally received feedback to business-plans. Treated startups fundraised on average $15,000 more, being more likely to get funding and to survive. Results are consistent with feedback improving ventures, rather than just screening them

Keywords: business model, team performance, entrepreneurship, feedback handling

JEL Classification: G32, L26, D23

Suggested Citation

Wagner, Rodrigo Andres, How Does Feedback Impact New Ventures? Fundraising in a Randomized Field Experiment (October 9, 2017). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2766566 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2766566

Rodrigo Andres Wagner (Contact Author)

UAI Business School

Diagonal Las Torres 2700
Penalolen
Santiago
Chile

HOME PAGE: http://https://sites.google.com/site/rodrigoawagner

Growth Lab - Harvard University (Center for Int. Development) ( email )

79 John F. Kennedy Street
Cambridge, MA MA 02138
United States

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