Abstract
Arguably, entrepreneurial team formation constitutes an arduous but fundamental task toward venture establishment. Given the relatively scant attention that has been paid to this research topic, this study focuses on founders’ behaviors in their attempt to narrow the gap between their own skills and the ones required for the materialization of their vision. Semistructured interviews with 14 key members of externally funded entrepreneurial teams in Greece suggested that entrepreneurs themselves account for the lack of legitimacy, knowledge, and financial resources through leveraging their social networks, available information resources, and certain cooperation agreements as well as selecting candidates whose profile is aligned with entrepreneurial challenges and goals. Moreover, they revealed that as these challenges are mitigated, they give rise to a wider spectrum of choices with regard to the team formation process; this evolutionary path seems to be facilitated by certain events, which act as triggers of change. These associations are incorporated in a framework which depicts founders’ behaviors and their temporal variations in the context of entrepreneurial team formation.
Highlights
In the midst of market volatility and scarcity of financial resources, embarking upon an entrepreneurial venture incurs considerable challenges which often condemn entrepreneurs’ efforts (Gelderen, Thurik, & Bosma, 2005)
Academic literature on entrepreneurial teams is heavily focused on Inputs-Mediators-Outcomes models, which underpin the relationship between team inputs and new venture performance but fail to capture its full complexity (Klotz, Hmieleski, Bradley, & Busenitz, 2014)
According to founders’ narrations, the entrepreneurial team formation process emerged from a conspicuous gap between the founders’ own skills and the skillset required for the creation of a product prototype
Summary
In the midst of market volatility and scarcity of financial resources, embarking upon an entrepreneurial venture incurs considerable challenges which often condemn entrepreneurs’ efforts (Gelderen, Thurik, & Bosma, 2005). Academic literature on entrepreneurial teams is heavily focused on Inputs-Mediators-Outcomes models, which underpin the relationship between team inputs and new venture performance but fail to capture its full complexity (Klotz, Hmieleski, Bradley, & Busenitz, 2014). They provide little understanding on the way entrepreneurial teams enter the venture life cycle despite the undeniably challenging nature of staffing a barely shaped venture (Brush et al, 2001).
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