Somewhere right now, a founder is hitting "publish" on a crowdfunding campaign. After months of hard work – a flashy demo video, a funding goal, and a carefully-crafted pitch – the page goes live. Then, the waiting begins.
Now multiply that moment by six million. That is how many crowdfunding campaigns launched in 2023 alone, together raising more than $117 billion on platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo. Increasingly, this is how new businesses get off the ground – in the scroll and swipe of everyday people deciding which ideas deserve a shot.
But with millions of campaigns launched each year, what makes a stranger on the internet decide that one idea is worth backing?
Ivey Kraft Professor of Marketing June Cotte and her colleagues explored this very question in their new research. Across six multimethod studies – including an analysis of nearly 72,000 Kickstarter projects – they examined what drives people to support one entrepreneur over another, and how founders can position themselves to win that support.
What they found upends one of entrepreneurship's most stubborn debates – and offers founders a surprisingly simple way to tip the crowd in their favour.
One pitch. Two mindsets.
The customer comes first. At least, that’s what many entrepreneurs are taught. But crowdfunding adds another layer: founders also need to understand the people deciding whether to back them.
That is because “backing” a business can mean two very different things on a crowdfunding platform. On a site like Kickstarter, people can support ventures in two ways: as consumers, buying or pre-ordering a product they want, or as investors, providing capital with the expectation of a future return.
Two avenues of support may seem like a small distinction, but these decision frames can fundamentally change how funders evaluate both a venture and the entrepreneur behind it.
Most strikingly, Cotte’s research found that a person’s decision frame can determine which gender has the funding advantage. When people viewed a venture as consumers, they were more likely to buy products from women founders. When they viewed it as investors, that preference flipped: they were more likely to fund ventures led by men.
That distinction may finally explain one of entrepreneurship research’s longest-running puzzles.
“For decades, research has appeared to disagree about whether gender gives entrepreneurs an advantage in securing funding,” said Cotte. “Our findings suggest the research was not necessarily in conflict. We were just missing an important part of the picture.”
So why do these decision frames produce such different responses? It comes down to perception.
The perceptions shaping who looks fundable
When evaluating entrepreneurs, funders tend to rely on two unconscious perceptions: disadvantage and determination.
Disadvantage relates to the hardships and barriers a founder is perceived to face. As women are often perceived as facing greater barriers, both in entrepreneurship and in life more broadly, they are more likely to be seen as disadvantaged. It is an imperfect association, but Cotte’s research shows that it can work in a woman founder’s favour.
“When people think like consumers, they are more likely to adopt a communal mindset – looking beyond the transaction and considering how their purchase can help the entrepreneur,” she said. “That makes perceived disadvantage more influential: they see their contribution as a way to support someone who needs help.”
Determination, on the other hand, reflects an entrepreneur’s perceived commitment, enthusiasm, and resilience. Here, the bias flips and men are more likely to be perceived as determined and capable of turning an idea into a successful business – qualities that matter more when people are thinking like investors and adopting an exchange mindset.
“It’s important to remember that these perceptions are not based on facts,” said Cotte. “We have no data showing that women are less determined than men or that men face fewer difficulties. But bias has taught us to believe otherwise.”
Turning perceptions into strategy
The good news for founders is that these perceptions are not fixed.
Cotte and her team tested if different descriptions of an entrepreneur could shift these ingrained perceptions. And they did.
When men and women entrepreneurs were both described as disadvantaged, the consumer preference for women disappeared. The reverse was also true: when both were described as highly determined and passionate, the investor preference for men disappeared.
For founders, that means they can help shape the perceptions working for – or against – them.
“As a founder, you have a choice,” she said. “You can lean into these perceptions and use them to your advantage, or you can be even more strategic and creative in how you present yourself online.”
What does a more strategic approach look like? Cotte recommends that founders revisit how they present themselves in their online profiles, keeping the following in mind:
- If your campaign is product-first (consumer frame): lead with the journey, the obstacles, the "why this matters."
- If your campaign is equity- or investment-oriented (investor frame): lead with traction, drive, and evidence you'll execute.
The uncomfortable takeaway
For Cotte, there is something both useful and frustrating about these findings.
For founders, the research offers a practical way to work within the system as it exists today. Seemingly small differences in how people frame a funding decision can change how they perceive the same entrepreneur – and who they choose to support. But, fortunately, this can be shifted.
But understanding how to navigate bias does not mean the burden of overcoming it should fall on the people experiencing it.
“As pervasive as it is, gender bias is rarely as black and white as we might think,” said Cotte. “We cannot change what we do not understand. Our research is a starting point: by uncovering the mechanisms behind bias, we can begin to understand where it comes from and, ultimately, how to change it.”
For a deeper look at how consumer and investor mindsets shape crowdfunding success, read Cotte’s research, Crowdfunding Success for Female Versus Male Entrepreneurs Depends on Whether a Consumer Versus Investor Decision Frame Is Salient, co-authored with Huachao Gao, Xin (Shane) Wang, and Xi Li.
