Anchored in signaling theory, we use a configurational approach to examine how new ventures credibly communicate their underlying firm quality, using a unique dataset of 117 new ventures that sought investment from a prominent angel group located in the Northeastern United States. Unlike existing research, which employs econometric models to reflect one best solution, we use crisp-set qualitative comparative analysis (cs/QCA) to understand signal configurations during the angel investment decision-making process. Our findings suggest that there are multiple paths to our three outcomes, passed small group screening, passed large group presentation, and passed due diligence/invested, validating notions of equifinality. Signals are complementary and configurations differ by industry sector. We also find that effective signal configurations differ by stage of investment, thereby offering evidence of cognitive dual processing on the part of the angel investors. We contribute to the literature on signaling by linking our findings to recent work on signal interactions and by highlighting the configurational and temporal aspects of signaling in the angel investment context. Implications are discussed.

基于信号理论，我们使用配置方法来检查新企业如何可靠地传达其基础公司的质量，使用了117个新企业的独特数据集，这些新企业从位于美国东北部的著名天使集团寻求投资。与采用计量经济学模型来反映一种最佳解决方案的现有研究不同，我们使用明晰的定性比较分析（cs / QCA）来了解天使投资决策过程中的信号配置。我们的发现表明，我们的三个结果有多种途径，分别是通过小组筛选，通过小组展示，通过尽职调查/投资，从而验证了均等性的概念。信号是互补的，并且配置因行业而异。我们还发现，有效的信号配置因投资阶段而异，从而为天使投资者提供了认知双重处理的证据。通过将我们的发现与信号交互的最新研究联系起来，并突出天使投资背景下信号的结构和时间方面，我们为信号研究做出了贡献。讨论了含义。