Originally found at ScienceDaily

When it comes to pitching business ideas to potential investors, an entrepreneur’s excitement and enthusiasm can be the difference between dreams taking shape or ultimately falling flat.

But it’s not just the intensity of enthusiasm that’s important, according to a recent study by a team led by Georgia Institute of Technology researchers. How long an entrepreneur displays the highest level of excitement during a pitch also plays a major role in predicting success in receiving funding.

Basically, too much enthusiasm can be a bad thing.

"The findings suggest that investors may interpret prolonged periods of high enthusiasm as over-optimistic,” said Dong Liu, an associate professor in Georgia Tech’s Scheller College of Business. “Over-optimistic entrepreneurs are thought to make irrational decisions and overestimate their products’ profitability.”

In the study, which was published April 8 in the Academy of Management Journal, the researchers described using artificial intelligence software to analyze video pitches for 1,460 business funding proposals for products posted on the crowd funding website Kickstarter.

Continue reading original article at ScienceDaily.

Learn more about the AOM Scholars and explore their work:

• Lin Jiang, University of South Florida
• Dezhi Yin, University of South Florida
• Dong Liu, Georgia Institute of Technology