Stefanidis Dimosthenis, Nicolaou Nicos, Shane Scott, Conley Mark, Pallis George, Dikaiakos Marios D
Computer Science Department, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus.
Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, Warwick, UK.
Sci Rep. 2025 Jul 31;15(1):27912. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-12544-z.
Entrepreneurs seeking funding increasingly present themselves to investors for the first time online. In these digital first impressions, some entrepreneurs smile while others do not. We posit that smiling increases investors' perceptions of trustworthiness and willingness to invest. Through five studies, we investigate this effect. Two pilot studies provide initial evidence: one based on interviews with 10 early-stage investors and another on a randomized experiment involving 210 entrepreneurs and prospective entrepreneurs, both showing that smiling boosts perceived trustworthiness and investor interest. Building on these findings, an analysis of 20,316 ventures on Crunchbase demonstrates that smiling in profile pictures is significantly associated with both higher likelihood of securing funding and higher amount raised. A study of 1,091 Shark Tank pitches further reveals that smiling is associated with higher funding odds, with trustworthiness serving as a key mediator. Finally, in a randomized experiment with 51 venture capitalists, founders were assessed as having a 16.6% higher probability of a successful exit and were valued $2.1 million more than non-smiling founders, with trustworthiness mediating 36% and 27% of the overall treatment effect for venture valuation and exit probability, respectively.
寻求资金的创业者越来越多地首次在网上向投资者展示自己。在这些数字化的第一印象中，一些创业者微笑，而另一些则不笑。我们认为微笑会提高投资者对可信度的认知以及投资意愿。通过五项研究，我们对这种效应进行了调查。两项先导研究提供了初步证据：一项基于对10位早期投资者的访谈，另一项基于一项涉及210位创业者和准创业者的随机实验，两项研究均表明微笑能提升感知到的可信度和投资者兴趣。基于这些发现，对Crunchbase上20316个创业公司的分析表明，个人资料照片中的微笑与获得资金的更高可能性以及筹集到的更高金额均显著相关。对1091个《创智赢家》 pitches的研究进一步揭示，微笑与更高的融资几率相关，可信度是关键中介因素。最后，在一项针对51位风险投资家的随机实验中，与不微笑的创始人相比，微笑的创始人被评估为成功退出的概率高出16.6%，估值高出210万美元，可信度分别在风险投资估值和退出概率的总体处理效应中起到了36%和27%的中介作用。
