Daniel Berliner

Ph.d. Alumni Department of Management and Innovation

Email: daniel.berliner@uia.no
Mobile phone: +47 40 49 30 65
Office: 9I157 (Universitetsveien 19, 4630 Kristiansand, Norway)

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Background and experience

2020 - Lecturer - Entrepreneurship and Innovation
University of Agder, Grimstad (Norway)

2019-2024 PhD Research Fellow
Faculty of Business and Law, University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway, Kristiansand (Norway)

2012-2019 - Lecturer – Marketing & Design
Ariel University (Israel)

2007-2012 - Lecturer - Design
Avni Institute - College for Art and Design, Tel-Aviv (Israel)

2017-2019 Co-founder and VP of Brand Strategy and Business Development TreeO Marketing, Caesarea (Israel)

Areas of responsibility

Daniel Berliner brings over 15 years of results-driven, hands-on marketing, and branding strategies experience. Working with some of the leading technology companies, Daniel provided a strategic advantage by bridging technology, business strategy and the human factor into one coherent story, thus leveraging the value and making a difference in international markets.

Many years of experience in implementing and executing design thinking / solution-based methods have led to many unique and unorthodox solutions with great outcomes.

Daniel holds a PhD in International Business from the University of Agder and a Master of Business Administration in Marketing and international business from the Ruppin Academic Center in Israel and has ten years of experience teaching Marketing, branding, and entrepreneurship courses in various academic centers.

Teaching

Statistics and economy course - MA155 and MA171
The course’s objective is to familiarize the students with entrepreneurial and small business economics, thus giving them the knowledge and skills to develop present and future entrepreneurial projects. The course is comprised of two-hour weekly lectures, followed by two hours of group work guided by the teaching assistants.

ING201 Økonomi og innovasjon (Economy and Innovation)
The course’s objective is to familiarize the students with entrepreneurial and small business economics, thus giving them the knowledge and skills to develop present and future entrepreneurial projects. The course is comprised of two-hour weekly lectures, followed by two hours of group work guided by the teaching assistants.

Research

Criteria influencing investment decision making in equity crowdfunding of high risk, early stage technological ventures.

Academic interests

Entrepreneurial Finance, Alternative Financing, Equity Crowdfunding, Entrepreneurship, Open Innovation, Crowdsourcing, Fintech, Strategy

Selected publications

Efrat, Kalanit., Gilboa, Shaked., Berliner, Daniel. (2020). Israeli Crowdfunding: A Reflection of Its Entrepreneurial Culture. In: Shneor, R., Zhao, L., Flåten, BT. (eds) Advances in Crowdfunding: Research and Practice (pp. 341–372). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46309-0_15
Almor, Tamar., & Berliner, Daniel. (2024). From orange to cyber: the role of international business policy in creating “Startup Nation”. In Handbook of International Business Policy (pp. 226-242). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781035308682.00021

Berliner, Daniel (2026). Signals of strategic intent: the impact of the disclosure of intended use of proceeds on equity crowdfunding investors’ decision-making. Small Business Economics. ISSN 0921-898X. doi: 10.1007/s11187-026-01280-x. Full text in Research Archive
Berliner, Daniel; Shneor, Rotem & Wald, Andreas Erich (2025). Beyond one-size-fits-all: Empirical evidence on the heterogeneity of equity crowdfunding investors’ decision drivers. Electronic Markets. ISSN 1019-6781. 35. doi: 10.1007/s12525-025-00856-x. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Abstract The equity crowdfunding literature tends to treat investors as a homogeneous group, assumed to be using similar decision-making criteria when considering investment. Those acknowledging heterogeneity often derive investor types from cluster analyses using platform-level data, which combines behavioural indicators with explanatory factors that may yield unstable, sample-specific groupings. In this study, we adopt Olsson’s (2021) typology as a theoretical baseline, classifying investors by two observable behavioural dimensions, average investment amount and portfolio breadth. However, we operationalise this framework empirically and analyse variations in investor decision-making. Drawing on 14,130 investment decisions by 8732 investors on the Israeli platform PipelBiz, we identify four types with distinct decision profiles: Friends and Family, Hobby Retail Investors, Niche Interest Angels, and Speculative Angels. The groups differ in their responses to minimum ticket size, equity offered, campaign round, business model, and team traits. Our analyses reveal that different types of investors weigh campaigns’ informational cues differently, highlighting segment-specific preferences, motivations, and decision-making rules. The results contribute to the growing body of literature on the heterogeneity of equity crowdfunding investors and its implications, while providing evidence that challenges the notion of a one-size-fits-all approach in the context of equity crowdfunding investors. The findings offer practical guidance for entrepreneurs and platforms seeking to target, design, and sequence campaigns to attract specific investor segments and improve fundraising outcomes.
Berliner, Daniel; Shneor, Rotem & Wald, Andreas Erich (2025). What influences equity investors’ decision-making in entrepreneurial finance: a systematic literature review 1983–2022. Venture Capital : an International Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance. ISSN 1369-1066. p. 1–35. doi: 10.1080/13691066.2025.2496743. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Knowledge on equity investors’ decision-making is often dispersedacross disciplines. We synthesise existing knowledge and providea comprehensive review of criteria guiding investments in entrepre-neurial ventures. A systematic review covering 153 papers publishedbetween 1983 and 2022 within 16 research disciplines reveals thatinvestors are highly heterogeneous regarding their decision criteria.Venture capital, business angels, and equity crowdfunders sharesimilarities regarding expected financial rewards. In contrast, BAsand ECFs exhibit different priorities towards ownership level andcapital requested. Post-investment concerns such as team coachabil-ity are only important to BA and VCs. We conclude by synthesisingthe eight decision criteria factors used by equity investors and pro-vide a structured framework designed to inspire and guide scholarsin their future investigations
Efrat, Kalanit; Berliner, Daniel & Gilboa, Shaked (2020). Israeli Crowdfunding: A Reflection of Its Entrepreneurial Culture. In Shneor, Rotem; Zhao, Liang & Flåten, Bjørn-Tore (Ed.), Advances in Crowdfunding: Research and Practice. Palgrave Macmillan. ISSN 9783030463090. p. 341–372. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-46309-0. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Crowdfunding has its roots deep in the Israeli entrepreneurship ecosystem. Its characterizing elements of—collective individualism combined with flat social hierarchies, low degree of separation, mandatory army service that enforces innovative thinking and improvisation, Chutzpah, and finally high tolerance for failure, all provide fertile ground for entrepreneurship and facilitate innovative approaches to entrepreneurship funding such as crowdfunding. In light of this, the growth of crowdfunding in Israel is not surprising. While the equity crowdfunding leads the field, rewards and donations platforms are more known and popular, indeed the brand name of the senior rewards and donations platform ‘Headstart’ became a nickname for crowdfunding action in Israel. In this chapter we illustrate the foundations of crowdfunding in Israel, its current state, and likely future development.

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Berliner, Daniel & Shneor, Rotem (2022). Proceedings of the International Conference on Crowdfunding Research. Universitetet i Agder. ISBN 9788269315301. 35 p. doi: 10.5281/zenodo.10618844. Full text in Research Archive

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Berliner, Daniel; Shneor, Rotem & Wald, Andreas Erich (2023). Do Serial, Occasional and One-Time Equity Crowdfunding Investors Differ in Their Decision-Making Criteria? Full text in Research Archive
Berliner, Daniel (2020). Crowdfunding, impact, and investing – gaining the best of two worlds. Revista Libre Empresa. December 2020(170), p. 44–45. Full text in Research Archive
Berliner, Daniel (2020). Developing Crowdfunding - Strengthening the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem. Revista Libre Empresa. October 2020(168), p. 20–21. Full text in Research Archive
Berliner, Daniel (2020). Crowdfunding - A straight line connecting the Statue of Liberty, and modern entrepreneurs. Revista Libre Empresa. September 2020(167), p. 48–49. Full text in Research Archive
Berliner, Daniel; Wald, Andreas Erich & Shneor, Rotem (2020). Financing Entrepreneurship: A Review of Equity Investors’ Decision-Making Criteria. Full text in Research Archive
Berliner, Daniel (2020). The emergence of crowdfunding - Making sweet lemonade out of the lemons. Revista Libre Empresa. November 2020(169), p. 42–43. Full text in Research Archive
Berliner, Daniel (2020). CROWDFUNDING - How to execute dreams. Full text in Research Archive
Berliner, Daniel (2020). Crowdfunding: The Power of the People. Full text in Research Archive
Berliner, Daniel; Efrat, Kalanit & Gilboa, Shaked (2019). The Israeli crowdfunding – A Reflection of its Entrepreneurial Culture. Full text in Research Archive
Berliner, Daniel & Wald, Andreas Erich (2019). Equity Crowdfunding: Theoretical Aspects of Entrepreneurial Finance Research, Review and Proposal. Full text in Research Archive
Berliner, Daniel (2024). Essays on Investors' Decision-Making in Equity-Based Crowdfunding. Universitetet i Agder. ISSN 9788284271934. Full text in Research Archive Show summary
Equity crowdfunding (ECF) is a fast-growing source of equity financing for entrepreneurial ventures, complementary to existing actors within the entrepreneurial finance domain, such as business angels and venture capital funds (Hornuf & Schwienbacher, 2018; Tuomi & Harrison, 2017; Vismara, 2022). For example, in 2021, 573 (23%) of all investment rounds in the UK utilized ECF, making it the third most active actor, after business angels (BA), accounting for 602 deals (24%), and private equity and venture capital firms (VC) facilitating 1,359 deals (54%) (Beauhurst, 2022). ECF can also be a disruptive form of bypassing traditional sources of equity financing, such as BA and VC, by raising capital from a large group of people (Drover et al., 2017; Lehner et al., 2015; Lukkarinen et al., 2016). As such, it aims to at least partially fill the gap of a chronic shortage of access to early-stage finance for SMEs often underserved by traditional financial institutions and channels across the world (Bruhn et al., 2017), with 26% of European SMEs indicating this as a major concern in 2023 (European Central Bank, 2023). Furthermore, the high-risk profile of early-stage entrepreneurial ventures, their sometimes-modest expected returns, and high transaction costs associated with due diligence and emissions made these highly innovative firms less attractive for BA and VC. At the same time, the needed capital is too large for friends and family to cover, as well as for VCs to cover alone. Therefore, ECF might have the potential to fill the equity gap for these early-stage entrepreneurial ventures (Hornuf & Schmitt, 2016; Mason et al., 2016). Indeed, between 2011 and 2021, the majority of companies (53%) utilizing ECF were at the seed stage compared to only 33% backed by VC firms (Beauhurst, 2022). The 2012 Jumpstart Our Business Startup Act (JOBS Act), signed by the President of the United States, dramatically affected the entrepreneurial finance landscape by legalizing ECF, opening new opportunities to both entrepreneurs and investors. Entrepreneurs were allowed to sell limited amounts of equity in their companies, and investors were provided with new opportunities to diversify their investment portfolios (Stemler, 2013). Since the 2012 JOBS Act and the legalization of ECF, the field of research for entrepreneurial financing has seen a growing interest among…

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Published Mar. 24, 2026 5:53 AM - Last modified Mar. 24, 2026 5:53 AM