Entrepreneurship as design: A design process for the emergence and development of entrepreneurial opportunities

Abstract

Although firms constantly seek opportunities to launch new products, services, or business models, little is known about the way opportunities emerge and develop. In particular, despite current ontological and epistemological knowledge of entrepreneurial opportunities, the process that drives their emergence and development remains understudied. To enrich our understanding, we conduct an exploratory multiple‐case study of six design agencies that supported firms in developing their entrepreneurial endeavours by leveraging design sprint, a hybrid method combining design and entrepreneurship. A primary contribution of our study is the conceptualization of a process model illustrating how design (sprint) can support the emergence and development of entrepreneurial opportunities. The model advances four actions that enable translating insights into opportunities: defining, framing, experimenting, and learning. Our findings also offer interesting insights on the role of third‐party agents in this process. Indeed, design agencies can act as facilitators in enacting entrepreneurship as design by supporting the emergence and development of entrepreneurial opportunities. Our research also contributes to the debate on the timing of entrepreneurial endeavours, offering an empirical portrayal of their chronology. In this sense, our model also contributes to managerial practice, providing a sequence of actions that can guide the emergence and development of entrepreneurial opportunities.