Single-Family Offices or Venture Capitalists? Entrepreneurs’ Perceptions of Investor Attractiveness at the Deal-Origination Stage

Deciding whom to initially contact for potential venture funding is an important entrepreneurial choice, particularly at the deal-origination stage when limited information makes signals about investor characteristics essential. Grounded in signaling theory, this study builds on an experiment exploring entrepreneurs’ perceived attractiveness of single-family offices (SFOs) compared to venture capitalists (VCs). The findings reveal that SFOs are perceived as more attractive to initial contacts than VCs, identifying humanization and a feeling of closeness as underlying psychological mechanisms. The study contributes to a nuanced understanding of the psychological mechanisms driving entrepreneurs’ perceptions of the family signal, bridging family business and psychology research.