Abstract:

Introduction:
Risk capital investors, such as business angels and venture capitalists, consider many criteria when deciding whether to invest in a new start-up. One significant factor is the entrepreneur's education, among others. During the decision-making process, investors assign varying weights to these specific criteria. These criteria can be organized into four main categories: those related to the entrepreneur, the market, the product, and the financial characteristics. When examining criteria related to the entrepreneur, it becomes evident that they are either direct outcomes of or closely related to various forms of previous entrepreneurship education.

Aim:
To compare and rank four summary categories of investors’ decision criteria—those related to the entrepreneur, the market, the product, and financial characteristics—according to their importance for risk capital investors, and to identify the importance of entrepreneurship education among them.

Methodology:
We conducted a systematic literature search for scientific studies in relevant databases (EBSCO, Science Direct, and Web of Science) that described risk capital investors’ decision criteria. We included only studies that reported ranked criteria according to their importance. Following a standard scientific process with several steps of search and filtration, we identified 182 decision criteria used by investors in 13 studies. We classified these criteria into four summary categories: Entrepreneur, Market, Product, and Finance. For each study, we manually recorded the criteria ranked in the first place of importance, second place, third place, fourth place, and fifth place. Additionally, we applied a linear decreasing points calculation method to establish the order of importance.

Results:
Our findings indicate that risk capital investors prioritize categories related to the entrepreneur above all others. Nearly all specific decision criteria within this entrepreneur category emphasize skills that can be acquired through education, learning, training, and practical experience. Professional skills such as management, marketing, and technical expertise, along with industry-specific experience and a proven track record, were consistently ranked as most important by investors.

Conclusion:
Given that risk capital investors prioritize decision criteria related to the entrepreneur as the most important, it is crucial for entrepreneurs to focus their efforts on personal improvement if they seek financing. Specifically targeted education, learning, training, and practical experience for both the entrepreneur and their team are pivotal factors that determine whether investors support their stat-up or not. By investing in these areas, entrepreneurs enhance their chances of attracting investment capital.

Limitations:
The decision criteria used by investors are validated through their daily practices; however, risk capital investors often fail to meet their expected aims in a significant percentage of their investments. Therefore, despite being validated in practice, these criteria are still far from perfect and our results reflect this bias.

Keywords:

Entrepreneurship education, Workplace learning, Risk investor decision making.