PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

How best to go about getting seed money through crowdfunding

It can be by touting yourself, Hebrew University research shows

2014-01-02
(Press-News.org) Contact information: Jerry Barach
jerryb@savion.huji.ac.il
972-258-82904
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
How best to go about getting seed money through crowdfunding It can be by touting yourself, Hebrew University research shows

Jerusalem, January 1, 2014 --- Early on in our careers, many of us were tutored as to how to best write an effective and attention-getting curriculum vitae (CV) in looking for a job. But in today's world, many are looking not for just a job, but are engaged in wide, often Internet-based searches for seed money to launch entrepreneurial ventures of one sort of another. But what guidelines exist as to the best way to go about securing this kind of funding?

To look into this issue and provide some answers, an extensive research project was launched at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in which the researchers sought to resolve these questions: Are prospective investors being influenced in their investment decisions by the entrepreneurs' description? Should entrepreneurs focus their business pitches on themselves or on their projects?

The answer, for some fund seekers, is: don't hesitate to boost yourself

The research on the issue was carried out by Prof. Orly Sade and her graduate student Dan Marom of the Jerusalem School of Business Administration at the Hebrew University.

Securing seed funding is one of the biggest challenges for any entrepreneur, notes Prof. Sade. When pitching the initiative to investors, there are various methods the entrepreneur can call upon in order to convince the investor to fund the project. Most notably, the entrepreneur may decide to place the emphasis of the pitch on the business idea. Alternatively, the entrepreneur may center the presentation on his personage, calling upon his name, resume, or past accomplishments.

Sade and Marom's research empirically investigated the importance of the entrepreneurs' description in the early investment pitches of more than 20,000 fundraising efforts, conducted by various entrepreneurs through a leading, US-based crowdfunding platform -- Kickstarter.

Using custom software to collect the investigated data, they amassed a database from Kickstarter consisting of 4,304 ongoing projects, 16,641 successful projects, 4,128 failed projects, 22,274 entrepreneurs, 1,108,233 investors, and investments that sum up to more than $120 million. The period investigated in the project was from the inception of Kickstarter, in April 2009, up until March 2012.

Focusing on the frequency of the mention of the entrepreneur's name in the funding applications, the researchers found that this factor was significantly higher in the applications involving "artistic" projects (those ventures involving such areas as entertainment, food, music, fashion and others) than in the technological category. Further, they found, that this emphasis on the entrepreneur was directly related to the probability of success in securing seed funding in the artistic category.

"In an era in which crowdfunding is a growing source of venture capital (more than $2.7 billion was raised in the US in this manner in 2012), it is important for academics, investors and those seeking funds, to have a basis for aiming their pitches in the most effective manner," said Sade.



INFORMATION:



The paper on the groundbreaking research of Sade and Marom has been presented at conferences in Spain, Norway, Holland, Israel and the US, and will be presented again by Sade on Jan. 4 at the annual meeting of the Association of Financial Economists in Philadelphia.



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Earthquake lights linked to rift environments, subvertical faults

2014-01-02
Earthquake lights linked to rift environments, subvertical faults SAN FRANCISCO – Rare earthquake lights are more likely to occur on or near rift environments, where subvertical faults allow stress-induced electrical currents to flow rapidly to the ...

Longmanshen fault zone still hazardous, suggest new reports

2014-01-02
Longmanshen fault zone still hazardous, suggest new reports Seismological Research Letters publishes special issue on 2013 Lushan, China earthquake SAN FRANCISCO – The 60-kilometer segment of the fault northeast of the 2013 Lushan rupture is the place ...

Jumping DNA in the brain may be a cause of schizophrenia

2014-01-02
Jumping DNA in the brain may be a cause of schizophrenia Stretches of DNA called retrotransposons, often dubbed "junk DNA", might play an important role in schizophrenia. In a study published today in the journal Neuron, a Japanese team revealed that LINE-1 retrotransposons are abnormally ...

Roses are red -- why some petunias are blue

2014-01-02
Roses are red -- why some petunias are blue Researchers have uncovered the secret recipe to making some petunias such a rare shade of blue. The findings may help to explain and manipulate the color of other ornamental flowers, not to mention the taste of fruits and wine, say ...

Plant used in Chinese medicine fights chronic pain

2014-01-02
Plant used in Chinese medicine fights chronic pain A plant used for centuries as a pain reliever in Chinese medicine may be just what the doctor ordered, especially when it comes to chronic pain. A key pain-relieving ingredient is a compound known as dehydrocorybulbine (DHCB) ...

JCI early table of contents for Jan. 2, 2014

2014-01-02
JCI early table of contents for Jan. 2, 2014 Opioid tolerance and pain hypersensitivity associated with mTOR activation Currently, opioids are the standard treatment for chronic pain. Patients on opioids for long periods of time become desensitized to ...

Opioid tolerance and pain hypersensitivity associated with mTOR activation

2014-01-02
Opioid tolerance and pain hypersensitivity associated with mTOR activation Currently, opioids are the standard treatment for chronic pain. Patients on opioids for long periods of time become desensitized to these drugs or become paradoxically hypersensitive ...

Doxorubicin-associated mitochondrial iron accumulation promotes cardiotoxicity

2014-01-02
Doxorubicin-associated mitochondrial iron accumulation promotes cardiotoxicity Doxorubicin is a widely used as a component of chemotherapy regimes; however, the use of doxorubicin is associated with severe cardiotoxicity. It is unclear exactly how doxorubicin ...

Biologists discover solution to problem limiting development of human stem cell therapies

2014-01-02
Biologists discover solution to problem limiting development of human stem cell therapies Biologists at UC San Diego have discovered an effective strategy that could prevent the human immune system from rejecting the grafts derived from human embryonic ...

Study on pregnancy and alcohol fails to take psychological factors into account

2014-01-02
Study on pregnancy and alcohol fails to take psychological factors into account "It is OK to drink a little bit of alcohol during pregnancy" or "a pregnant woman should not touch alcohol at all during her pregnancy". These statements represent the ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Program takes aim at drinking, unsafe sex, and sexual assault on college campuses

Inability to pay for healthcare reaches record high in U.S.

Science ‘storytelling’ urgently needed amid climate and biodiversity crisis

KAIST Develops Retinal Therapy to Restore Lost Vision​

Adipocyte-hepatocyte signaling mechanism uncovered in endoplasmic reticulum stress response

Mammals were adapting from life in the trees to living on the ground before dinosaur-killing asteroid

Low LDL cholesterol levels linked to reduced risk of dementia

Thickening of the eye’s retina associated with greater risk and severity of postoperative delirium in older patients

Almost one in ten people surveyed report having been harmed by the NHS in the last three years

Enhancing light control with complex frequency excitations

New research finds novel drug target for acute myeloid leukemia, bringing hope for cancer patients

New insight into factors associated with a common disease among dogs and humans

Illuminating single atoms for sustainable propylene production

New study finds Rocky Mountain snow contamination

Study examines lactation in critically ill patients

UVA Engineering Dean Jennifer West earns AIMBE’s 2025 Pierre Galletti Award

Doubling down on metasurfaces

New Cedars-Sinai study shows how specialized diet can improve gut disorders

Making moves and hitting the breaks: Owl journeys surprise researchers in western Montana

PKU Scientists simulate the origin and evolution of the North Atlantic Oscillation

ICRAFT breakthrough: Unlocking A20’s dual role in cancer immunotherapy

How VR technology is changing the game for Alzheimer’s disease

A borrowed bacterial gene allowed some marine diatoms to live on a seaweed diet

Balance between two competing nerve proteins deters symptoms of autism in mice

Use of antifungals in agriculture may increase resistance in an infectious yeast

Awareness grows of cancer risk from alcohol consumption, survey finds

The experts that can outsmart optical illusions

Pregnancy may reduce long COVID risk

Scientists uncover novel immune mechanism in wheat tandem kinase

Three University of Virginia Engineering faculty elected as AAAS Fellows

[Press-News.org] How best to go about getting seed money through crowdfunding
It can be by touting yourself, Hebrew University research shows