Digital Entrepreneurship in Two-sided Markets. Insights from Real Estate Crowdfunding Platforms.

Abstract

While there is a growing body of research on the success factors in crowdfunding campaigns, much less is known about the factors that influence the success of crowdfunding platforms. We begin to address this gap in research by examining real estate crowdfunding platforms (RECPs) which connect real estate investors with real estate capital seekers. To understand how entrepreneurs leverage technology in this context, we drew on resource orchestration theory and we conducted a multi-case analysis across seven RECPs in the United States. We discovered that RECP founders and executives view technology as a focal resource orchestration mechanism that is critical for platform success. We identified five higher-order themes that describe entrepreneurial goals in leveraging technology: efficiency, agility, scalability, reach and personalization. We also examined how different platforms solved the two-sided market launch challenge and we found that entrepreneurs developed a number of different strategies.