By building on the role of trust in finance and screening theory, our research explores the correlation between founders occupying leadership positions such as CEO, CTO, or CFO and the funds raised through Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). Our analysis of data from 2,047 ICOs conducted between 2017 and 2021 reveals that founders occupying positions of authority within their organisations are perceived by investors as a signal of commitment. This perceived commitment enhances investor trust in the venture, which, in turn, leads to increased funding raised during the ICO. Furthermore, our analysis highlights the crucial role of the CTO in building trust and investors’ preference for multiple founders occupying leadership roles simultaneously. Our conclusions are robust to potential biases and endogeneity.

This research contributes to the Management of Technology (MOT) literature by scrutinizing the interrelation between education, experience, and the scaling aptitudes of high-tech companies. The study hinges on a comprehensive analysis of data collected from 1987 C-level executives and 3644 born-digital firms that pursued funding via blockchain-based Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). Employing structural equation modeling, we systematically tested our hypotheses, contrasting the scaling trajectories of companies that successfully procured funding against those that fell short. Our findings reveal that amongst the diverse managerial competencies, only the leadership acumen of CEOs plays an important role in fostering the scaling of tech-companies across the spectrum, leaving the proficiencies of CFOs and CTOs with negligible impact. More crucially, the competencies of a CEO magnify in importance in relation to a tech-company's scaling potential post the securing of funds. The insights gained from this study not only enrich the existing body of knowledge on scaling and ICOs within the MOT literature but also hold considerable practical value for crafting effective scaling strategies in the high-tech industry.

Our research investigates the role of social media communication in amplifying high-quality information and its impact on the success of ICOs in achieving their soft cap. We analyzed data from 3,644 ICOs and the demographics of 1,987 CEOs, CFOs, and CTOs to compare their quality attributes against their number of social media followers. Our findings reveal that the most significant factors for reaching the soft cap are the number of followers and team size, while the competencies (education and skills) of the management team have a very marginal effect, even when enhanced through social media. This indicates that widespread social media signals can positively influence investor behavior without necessarily reducing information asymmetries regarding the quality of the team. We propose that this effect arises from the combination of minimal investment amounts and stimulated herding behavior among investors.

Our research explores the influence of news and comments, specifically those circulated by reliable sources such as the Financial Times, on the ability of firms undertaking an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) to achieve their target fundraising goal, known as the soft-cap. We employ contagion theory as a framework to investigate whether an increased volume or a more favorable net sentiment of such news and comments enhances the likelihood of token issuers meeting the soft-cap, by steering investor decision-making processes. Our findings indicate a positive, yet non-linear, impact of reliable news sources, which significantly bolsters the odds of reaching soft-cap, from 0.4 to up .9. We propose that reliable news and commentary operate through three primary channels: initially, they serve to raise awareness and legitimize the ICO, while over the long term, they play a more informational role. Our results are robust …