Quality (philosophy)

Marketing

Linguistics

Philosophy

Business administration

Equity capital markets

Ambiguity

Economics

Market economy

Business

Private equity

Entrepreneurship

Political science

Epistemology

Human capital

Venture capital

Entrepreneurial finance

Equity crowdfunding

Economic growth

Finance

Equity (law)

Seed money

Small Business Economics

Grounding on research about the role of signals in the attraction of equity finance, this paper studies the effects of diverse human capital signals on entrepreneurs’ success in equity crowdfunding. We argue that the human capital of an entrepreneur, who launches (alone or with other teammates) an equity crowdfunding campaign to finance her start-up, constitutes a set of signals of the start-up quality. The impact of each human capital signal on entrepreneur’s success in equity crowdfunding depends on both signal fit with start-up quality and signal ambiguity. Empirical estimates on 284 entrepreneurs who launched equity crowdfunding campaigns indicate that only entrepreneurs’ business education and entrepreneurial experience, two human capital signals that have both a good fit with start-up quality and a low degree of ambiguity, significantly contribute to entrepreneurs’ success in equity crowdfunding.

Human capital signals and entrepreneurs’ success in equity crowdfunding