Decision criteria used by investors to screen technology-based ventures

Entrepreneurs seeking to develop technology-based ventures require investment capital to finance their growth at the early stages. Equity investors, especially venture capitalists and business angels, are known to be frequent sources of this capital. Typically, entrepreneurs present an investment proposal to these investors in the form of a business plan. What happens next, the decision-making process and the weighing of criterion by these investors, is of great importance to the entrepreneurs. This paper explores the decision-making criteria that most impressed investors when screening an early stage technology-based venture. The three types of equity investors sampled in this study are business angels, private venture capitalists and investment managers from public venture capital funds. Data were collected using survey questionnaires administered through personal interviews with these investors across Canada