The language and body language of entrepreneurs: How verbal and non-verbal metaphors are used to persuade investors to fund new ventures.

In the wake of the global economic crisis entrepreneurship is increasingly seen as a means to enhance economic performance in the context of scarce public funds and recent discussions have centred on the idea that governments should develop policy which is instrumental in developing entrepreneurial activity. One critical way governments can support entrepreneurs is helping them to be more successful in acquiring financial resources needed to initiate or expand their venture. Entrepreneurs (particularly technology ventures) are likely to face considerable challenges in engaging resource providers in their ideas given the lack of tangible predictors of competence or evidence that the venture will eventually be successful.

Existing research in entrepreneurship focuses on two main approaches "the cognitive" and "the institutional" perspectives, but neither lends itself easily to being transferred to practical entrepreneurship training. The cognitive perspective focuses on personality traits of entrepreneurs which are seen as innate and relatively stable over the life of the entrepreneur so offer little opportunity for development in other individuals. The institutional perspective highlights the cultural symbols entrepreneurs employ (such as an education from a top business school or a high calibre founding team) to make the venture seem credible to key groups. This approach does not explain how those who do not meet these culturally accepted norms can also achieve funding.

This project will employ the PI's new theoretical perspective recently published in a high impact US academic journal which offers a more integrative understanding of the entrepreneur within their social context by focusing on the language and body language entrepreneurs use to persuade investors to support their new venture. If the communication skills of entrepreneurs are viewed as central to the achievement of funding, it follows that these behaviours can be identified, assessed and developed in others. Working with one end-user Connect Yorkshire (who have been involved in the design and will help implement and disseminate the findings) 30 technology entrepreneurs will be identified to take part in the project. Over the period of the project three studies will be conducted. Study 1 (a linguistic analysis of videotaped pitches to investors) will develop insights into the form, frequency and function of language and body language used by entrepreneurs. Study 2 (an in-depth visual ethnographic study) and Study 3 (an experimental study) will provide information on whether these tactics have an impact on investor's decisions.

The potential impact of this research is three-fold. First this research has the potential to offer considerable strategic benefit to policy-makers and professional associations involved in the training of entrepreneurs. Among other impact activities, state-of-the-art training materials will be developed and used within Leeds Enterprise Centre, Connect Networks and posted on-line at Start-Up Britain. Secondly, this project is likely to have significant impact on the field of entrepreneurship as the PI's new theoretical approach has the potential to overcome the problems with and reconcile the two existing major perspectives in entrepreneurship. Thirdly the project uses innovative approaches to data collection (visual ethnography) and analysis (techniques adapted from linguistics). This project will mainstream these methods within the management community and will build capacity through training new researchers in these techniques. The PI's research experience and support of experienced mentors will help ensure the project is ethically sound, analytically strong and well-managed. Previous work on visual methods, her expertise in analysing gesture and language and her academic and practitioner contacts, means the PI is ideally placed to carry out this work and ensure it has the highest possible impact on both academia and policy.

Non-academic users of this research will include government policy-makers, bodies which implement government policy (e.g. BIS), entrepreneurship educators (e.g. Connect Networks), support networks for entrepreneurs (e.g. Business Link), practitioners who work with entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs themselves. Governments are increasingly seeking to develop and implement policies which are instrumental in developing entrepreneurial activity given the important role it plays in the economy. If the communication skills of entrepreneurs are viewed as central to the achievement of funding, as opposed to an innate personality trait or aligning with institutional norms, it follows that these behaviours can be identified, assessed and developed in others. Current advice for entrepreneurs focuses on what should be "said" (i.e. the content of pitches) but there are few practical insights on how entrepreneurs can be most effective in communication with investors. The research will provide the knowledge, understanding and materials for those interested in entrepreneurship education and development to support entrepreneurs in becoming more successful in acquiring financial resources to initiate or expand their ventures.

The research will be closely managed so as to ensure successful communication and engagement. First the PI will develop a project website to promote and disseminate the project (accessed through the c-TIE website). A press agency will be also be engaged to assist the PI with disseminating findings to the public (e.g. through press releases). The PI will also work alongside Connect Yorkshire (who have been involved in designing this research project) to develop state-of-the-art training materials based on the results of this research. These materials will form the basis of Connect Yorkshire's training in how to pitch effectively to investors at their pre-investment workshops. Following the successful implementation of these training materials within Yorkshire they will be disseminated to the wider Connect Networks throughout the UK. The training materials will also been used within the Leeds Enterprise Centre and the International Corporate Leadership Programme at Leeds University. In addition, with the support of Professor Paul Hannon (acting CEO of NCGE), these training materials will be disseminated to those training graduate entrepreneurs within the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship training of entrepreneurs. They will also be posted on Start-Up Britain as the PI acts as a local ambassador for this organisation.

The PI will also leverage her own network and that of her on-site mentor Prof Richard Thorpe to ensure that the project has an impact at the policy-making/implementation level. Existing networks include contacts in The Regional Development Agency and the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). The PI will collect data from the Connect Networks to assess whether they are more successful in helping entrepreneurs secure finance following their adoption of the training materials developed by the PI. This will add further weight to the PIs discussions with policy-making bodies. The PI's impact agenda will be supported by a well thought through training plan which will develop her knowledge exchange skills. She will also be supported by her on-site mentor Prof Richard Thorpe who has an extensive practitioner network and established relationships with policy-making bodies. The project will also benefit from the PI's membership of the inter-disciplinary c-TIE group in LUBS which has a special interest in technology ventures and is currently working on the commercialisation of regenerative therapies and devices in collaboration with the Faculties of Medicine and Engineering. Given the PI's focus on funding for novel technology ventures this connection offers ideal future opportunities for technology companies to benefit from the PI's research.