Community-Based Financing: Entrepreneurial Resource Acquisition in the Age of Disintermediation

Abstract

Theories of resource acquisition generated by observing how early-stage ventures attain financial capital from professional investors may not apply to increasingly prevalent online financing settings such as crowdfunding, presale platforms, and initial coin offerings. This dissertation explores how entrepreneurs attain financial capital from distributed backers with diverse motivations and incentives in exchange for future offerings in the crowdfunding setting. Through a longitudinal analysis of eight crowdfunding campaigns, I induct a process framework of community-based resource acquisition to contribute to existing theories of nascent venture legitimacy. I then empirically analyze why entrepreneurs choose not to reveal signals of accomplishment relating to education, professional background, and entrepreneurial experience in their efforts to persuade crowds to contribute financial capital to uncertain entrepreneurial endeavors. This analysis contributes to the existing literature on signaling in entrepreneurship.