Angel Investors’ and Entrepreneurs’ Intentions to Exit Their Ventures: A Conflict Perspective

Abstract

This study examines the relationships among angel investor–entrepreneur relationship conflicts, task conflicts, and goal conflicts on the one hand and their intentions to exit on the other. I evaluate the hypotheses with survey data from 65 angel investors and 72 entrepreneurs belonging to 54 ventures located in either California or Belgium. Regression analyses indicate that entrepreneurial intentions to exit are higher for entrepreneurs who face more task and goal conflicts. Angel investors’ intentions to exit are only increased when faced with more goal conflicts. Together, these results indicate the importance of taking into account investor–entrepreneur relations when studying their respective exit processes.