Conjoint analysis: A new methodological approach for researching the decision policies of venture capitalists

TLDR: In this article, the authors reveal the potential that conjoint analysis has to improve the validity of prior research into VCs' decision making; and act as a catalyst for adopting conceptual tools from other disciplines that can be tested empirically.

Abstract: Decision making is central to the ability of venture capitalists to predict those new ventures likely to succeed, yet most studies into their decision making use post-hoc methodologies that may generate biased results. People are poor at introspection and often suffer from recall and post-hoc rationalization biases among others. Therefore, researchers should consider using real-time methods that eliminate many of these biases. One such method is conjoint analysis. The purpose of this paper is to reveal the potential that conjoint analysis has to: (1) improve the validity of prior research into VCs' decision making; and (2) act as a catalyst for adopting conceptual tools from other disciplines that can be tested empirically. Both these functions have the purpose of increasing one's insight into the assessment policies of VCs.