Narcissists get funding if they’re not arrogant or defensive
- Written by: Paul Sanchez Ruiz, Professor of Management and Entrepreneurship, Iowa State University
Entrepreneurs displaying narcissistic behavior are better able to convince investors to give them money when their grandiosity comes across as confidence as opposed to defensiveness or arrogance.
That’s what we learned[1] from watching 12 seasons of the popular reality TV show “Shark Tank[2]” to better understand how an entrepreneur’s psychological profile affects their ability to secure funding.
My research focuses on how entrepreneurs respond to challenges, including how personality affects their work. My colleagues and I based our study off the concept that there are two distinct “flavors” of narcissism[3]: narcissistic admiration and narcissistic rivalry.
Narcissistic admiration means[4] wanting others to like you and think highly of you, while its more contentious counterpart, narcissistic rivalry, refers to putting others down to feel better about yourself.
Our research, published in Organization Science[5] last year, analyzed 789 pitches featured on “Shark Tank.” For each pitch in our sample, professional psychologists used a validated psychometric scale[6] to score the founder-CEO’s admiration and rivalry behaviors. We then measured investors’ immediate reactions by analyzing the emotional tone of their response – how positive or negative their language was – and linked that sentiment to funding outcomes.
Narcissism was then measured for each CEO using our coding approach, producing continuous scores that range from lower to higher levels of narcissistic admiration and rivalry. Our analyses leverage this variation, particularly higher levels, but the sample itself was not constructed based on narcissism.
We concluded that founders who displayed narcissistic admiration were more likely to secure funding.
For example, in a pitch, it’s the charming founder weaving a compelling story about the company (“Let me impress you”) and the future (“I can lead us there”).
Meanwhile, founders displaying narcissistic rivalry were less likely to nail down a deal, even if their business plan was solid. Their defensive style can look like arrogance or hostility. In pitches we reviewed, this was the founder who bristled at questions (“Don’t challenge me”) or talked down to the investor.
In other words: Not all “confidence” plays the same in the pitch room.
Why it matters
Narcissism is common among leaders in executive roles[7], and it’s often treated as either a secret advantage or a dangerous flaw. Our findings suggest the more useful question is: Which version shows up when the pressure is on?
“Shark Tank” offers a rare window[8] into the inner workings of early-stage investing. Entrepreneurs make short pitches to experienced investors, who weigh market trends and financial projections that may be only educated guesses. The products are sometimes still in the prototype stage.
The investors, or “sharks,” must rely on quick interpersonal cues about the founder, and the pitch itself captures the interaction they are reacting to in the moment. Then there is an observable outcome: deal or no deal, and the amount invested.
For entrepreneurs, confidence and bold vision can be assets, but only when paired with openness and composure. Investors seem to respond well to founders who can sell a big idea without turning challenging questions into showdowns.
And this isn’t just about reality television. Venture capital meetings, accelerator demo days and even corporate board presentations often hinge on short, high-stakes interactions where impressions of the leader quickly become impressions of the venture.
What’s next
Going forward, we want to test whether the same dynamics hold in less public settings, such as private venture capital meetings where the camera isn’t running.
We also want to understand whether rivalry-based behavior is ever rewarded (for example, in highly adversarial negotiations), and whether different investors interpret the same behavior differently.
The Research Brief[9] is a short take on interesting academic work.
References
- ^ That’s what we learned (doi.org)
- ^ Shark Tank (abc.com)
- ^ two distinct “flavors” of narcissism (psycnet.apa.org)
- ^ Narcissistic admiration means (doi.org)
- ^ Organization Science (pubsonline.informs.org)
- ^ validated psychometric scale (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- ^ common among leaders in executive roles (fisher.osu.edu)
- ^ rare window (www.investopedia.com)
- ^ Research Brief (theconversation.com)
