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Session Overview
Session
Session 2.01: What Do Early Stage Investors Ask? An LLM Analysis of Expert Calls
Time:
Tuesday, 26/Aug/2025:
9:00am - 9:30am

 Location: Carmen Conference hall

Meeting hall “Carmen”, which can accommodate up to 70 people

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Presentations

What Do Early Stage Investors Ask? An LLM Analysis of Expert Calls

Prof. Victor Lyonnet1, Prof. Amin Shams2, Prof. Shaojun Zhang2

1University of Michigan, United States of America; 2Ohio State University, United States of America

We analyze how early-stage investors evaluate potential investments by using

ChatGPT to analyze 5,143 expert consultation calls. Companies discussed in these

calls are 15 percentage points more likely to receive financing in the following quarter.

Positive signals about technology integration and customer acquisition increase deal

likelihood by 14% and 10.5%, respectively, with their predictive power declining by

over 75% for mature companies. Market analysis and business strategy discussions –

comprising over 40% of call content—show minimal predictive power for investment

outcomes. Our findings document both how investors overcome information asymmetries

in early-stage investing and a misalignment between the information they seek and

the information that predicts investment outcomes. Methodologically, we demonstrate

the potential of LLMs to extract nuanced insights from complex qualitative data.