Salient individual founder traits and investor attention

Last registered on September 19, 2025
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Salient individual founder traits and investor attention
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0016794
Initial registration date
September 16, 2025

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
September 19, 2025, 10:04 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Country
United States of America
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Mana Heshmati
Affiliation
University of Washington, Seattle
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Ming zhu Wang
PI Affiliation
University of Washington
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2025-09-16
End date
2025-12-31
Keywords
Firms & Productivity
Additional Keywords
Entrepreneurship
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Most investors rely on signals from substantive factors (e.g., quality of business model, team’s track record, viability of technology, evidence of market traction) to identify promising investment opportunities (Spence, 1973). Unlike evaluators operating in environments with near-complete information, early-stage investors must navigate an environment of high uncertainty and information asymmetry around the quality of investment opportunities (Hall & Lerner, 2010). Many early-stage venture investors base their investment decisions on their evaluation of the team characteristics rather than the business idea (Bernstein, Korteweg, & Laws, 2016). Thus, decision-making in early-stage VC rounds may be influenced by “non-substantive factors” that appear largely unrelated to the underlying quality of the business idea.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Heshmati, Mana and Ming zhu Wang. 2025. "Salient individual founder traits and investor attention." AEA RCT Registry. September 19. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.16794-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention (Hidden)
Intervention Start Date
2025-09-16
Intervention End Date
2025-11-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
We measure the investment decision (which venture they select) made for each participant.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
2x2 within subject design manipulating nonsubstantive founder characteristics to test whether such cues affect investor evaluations. These characteristics are held constant across product type and quality signals, ensuring that any observed differences are not attributable to the substantive features of the venture. Participants are provided with a simple consumer product description and brief founder background information, which are systematically varied only on these nonsubstantive dimensions.
Experimental Design Details
In the first condition, we manipulate the perceived commonness of the founder’s surname. Specifically, participants are introduced to venture pitches where the founder is described with either a common surname or a relatively uncommon surname in the U.S. context. All other elements of the founder description are held constant (e.g., gender, nationality) to ensure that the only founder-related variation comes from surname commonness. This allows us to isolate whether the perceived distinctiveness of a surname influences investment decisions, independent of product type or venture quality signals. In the second set of conditions, we then manipulate the quality signals of the venture, by providing more information on the stage of business development.
Randomization Method
Randomly assigned via Qualtrics survey.
Randomization Unit
Individual level randomization.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
4 groups
Sample size: planned number of observations
200 individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
50 individuals per group
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
University of Washington
IRB Approval Date
2025-07-15
IRB Approval Number
STUDY00023498
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials