| dc.description.abstract | There is a general impression in Norway that most entrepreneurs struggle to secure funding
from venture capital providers, such as angel investors. Worse still, most angel research has
failed to be of practical use, mainly because such studies fail to consider interdependencies
in angels’ decision-making processes. This study contributes to reduce the researchpractice
gap and highlight the cross-cultural context in seed capital investments. My
qualitative analysis of comparative, U.S.-Norwegian data verifies past research in the
Norwegian context by finding that angels employ the Affect Heuristic, Confirmation Bias,
Elimination-by-Aspect Heuristic, and Availability Heuristic. Further, I expand research
by discovering three novel heuristics. Firstly, angels prefer to invest within industries
in which they are interested or are experts in, labeled Personal Relevance Heuristic.
Secondly, Norwegian angels perceive a higher risk of product-market fit failure, because of
a proposed lack of a sales mindset in Norway relative to the U.S., labeled Salesperson
Heuristic. Thirdly, older and more experienced angels are more hands-on and exercise more
control over investments, labeled Deference-towards-the-Archangel Heuristic. I validate
my findings and interpret them within a three-stage angel investment decision-making
process. Moreover, I provide practical recommendations for angels, entrepreneurs, and
government.
Keywords – Angel Investors, Decision-Making, Holistic Perspective, Heuristics, Seed
Capital, Norwegian Context | en_US |
