Title: The effect of entrepreneurial experience on the quality of a business plan proposal in applying for angel investment

Authors: Róbert Hanák; Matúš Grežo

Addresses: Faculty of Business Management, Department of Informational Management, University of Economics in Bratislava, Dolnozemská cesta 1, 852 35, Bratislava, Slovak Republic ORCID: 0000-0001-5499-4037 ' Institute of Experimental Psychology, Centre of Social and Psychological Sciences, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, 84101 Bratislava, Slovak Republic ORCID: 0000-0002-3537-2862

Abstract: The main aim of this study was to investigate the effect of start-up and managerial experience on the quality of business plans proposed by entrepreneurs applying for external angel investment. Using the Business model canvas method as a criterion, a quantitative content analysis of 310 business plan proposals was conducted in order to evaluate the ability of entrepreneurs to define the most important dimensions of a business plan. The results showed a positive effect of start-up experience and a non-significant effect of managerial experience on the quality of business plan proposals. It was shown that when defining more complex and dynamic dimensions of a business plan, a U-shaped relation between start-up experience and the quality of a business plan existed. Furthermore, we found that the quality of a business plan partially mediated the relation between prior experience and the acceptance of a business plan in an investor's first prescreen evaluation.

Keywords: entrepreneurship; angel investor; start-up experience; managerial experience; entrepreneurial learning; decision making; quality of business plan; evaluation criteria; knowledge; learning by doing.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEV.2020.112239

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Venturing, 2020 Vol.12 No.6, pp.617 - 647

Accepted: 06 Dec 2019
Published online: 05 Jan 2021 *

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