This dissertation examines the effectiveness of third party affiliation signals that entrepreneurs use to convince investors to commit financial resources in an equity crowdfunding context. I investigate the importance of third party affiliation signals (business accelerators, investor syndicates, and startups featured on the equity crowdfunding platform) on subsequent online funding amounts. The data indicates that affiliation with an investor syndicate is an effective third party affiliation signal and can therefore strongly impact the probability of online funding amounts. Business accelerators and startups featured on the equity crowdfunding platform, by contrast, have little or no impact on online funding amounts. I discuss the implications of the results for theory, future research, and practice.
