Experience Curves in Reward-Based Crowdfunding: An Empirical Study of Serial Creators

Previous studies have reported a linear relationship between creator experience and crowdfunding success. However, creator experience does not guarantee a high likelihood of crowdfunding success. Drawing from experience curve theory and entrepreneurial learning research, this study investigates experience curves in reward-based crowdfunding by focusing on the characteristics of creators' prior campaign experience. We argue that the positive experience-performance relationship applies only to veteran serial creators, while novice serial creators cannot effectively apply their experiential knowledge to new projects. We further posit that two cross-project characteristics (interproject diversity and interproject interval) moderate the shape of the experience curve. Using a dataset of 6,469 projects initiated by 2,452 serial creators from Indiegogo, we found that creator experience has a U-shaped relationship with crowdfunding success and that this curve is flattened by interproject diversity and interproject interval. Our work provides both theoretical and practical implications for crowdfunding.