_General investability:_ this is an average of standardized z‐scores of the following variables:

- _Number of employees in the company:_ the number of employees in the company, coded as zero for firms that are closed, and winsorized at the 99<sup>th</sup> percentile.

- _Founder/co‐founders work full‐time in the company:_ a dummy variable that takes value one if at least one of the founders works full‐time in the company, and zero otherwise.

- _Positive total sales for first quarter:_ this is a dummy variable which takes value one if the firm made positive sales in the first quarter of 2016 (first follow‐up survey), or in the first quarter of 2017 (second follow‐up survey), and zero otherwise. It is coded as zero for firms that have closed.

- _Total sales for first quarter of at least 10,000 euros:_ a dummy variable which takes value one if the firm made sales of at least 10,000 euros in the first quarter of 2016 (first follow‐up survey), or in the first quarter of 2017 (second follow‐up survey), and zero otherwise. It is coded as zero for firms that have closed.

- _Business made positive profit in last year:_ a dummy variable which takes value one if the firm made a positive profit in 2015 (first follow‐up survey) or in 2016 (second follow‐up survey), and zero otherwise. It is coded as zero for firms that are closed.

- _Sales made in Western Europe or U.S.:_ a dummy variable which takes value one if the firm makes sales in European Union countries (excluding Croatia and Slovenia) or in the United States, and zero otherwise. It is coded as zero for firms that are closed.

_Meeting the specific needs of investors:_ this is an average of standardized z‐scores of the following variables:

- _Accounts of the business are separated from those of the owners:_ a dummy variable that takes value one if the business accounts are kept separately from those of the owner, and zero otherwise. It is coded as zero for closed firms.

- _Revenue projection made for the next 12 months:_ a dummy variable that takes value one if the firm has in place a revenue projection for the next 12 months, and zero otherwise. It is coded as zero for closed firms.

- _Business knows customer acquisition costs:_ a dummy variable that takes value one if the firm knows the cost of acquiring a customer, and zero otherwise. It is coded as zero for closed firms.

- _Number of key metrics (out of 11) being tracked:_ the number of key metrics being tracked such as newsletter sign‐ups, pre‐orders, free user downloads, requests for samples or free trials, free pilot projects with customers, current active users, new sales leads per month, sales meetings per month, paid pilot projects with customers, paid customer sign‐ups or paid downloads, and customer life‐time value. This is coded as zero for closed firms.

- _Found out whether product or service can be covered by intellectual property protection:_ a dummy variable that takes value one if the firm has found out whether their product or service can be covered by some form of intellectual property protection, and zero otherwise. This is coded as zero for closed firms.

- _Has at least one form of intellectual property protection or application pending:_ A dummy variable that takes value one if the firm has, or has pending, a copyright, trademark, industrial design right, patent, or other form of IP protection, and zero otherwise. This is coded as zero for closed firms.

_Investment Steps:_ this is an average of standardized z‐scores of the following variables: 48