Abstract Research Summary This paper examines the creation of entrepreneurial opportunities under coupled technical and demand uncertainty within science‐based ventures (SBVs). Whereas opportunity creation theory emphasizes discursive processes, we build on practice theory and pragmatism to explore how SBV opportunities also emerge through entrepreneurs' evolving engagements with indeterminate material artifacts. Through a longitudinal multiple‐case study, we identify two patterns of material engagement: epistemic engagement, oriented toward knowledge creation, and pragmatic engagement, oriented toward practical use. We show how opportunity creation unfolds through interweaving cycles of epistemic and pragmatic engagement. By introducing material engagements as constitutive, we specify creation theory for SBVs and highlight the central role of materiality in shaping belief formation, opportunity objectification, stakeholder engagement, and the variation–selection–retention process. Managerial Summary This paper explores how entrepreneurs create science‐based ventures (SBVs) by engaging with evolving material artifacts, like sensors and prototypes. Based on a study of SBV initiatives supported by the European Commission's ATTRACT program, we identify a process in which entrepreneurs repeatedly alternate between epistemic engagement—focused on scientific understanding—and pragmatic engagement—focused on usability and implementation. This material engagement cycle plays a central role in venture development under coupled technical and demand uncertainty. We highlight tensions inherent in this process and the strategies through which they are accommodated, offering practical insights for entrepreneurs building ventures from frontier science and policymakers supporting science commercialization.

Abstract Research Summary We examine how promotional language (“hype”) in reward‐based crowdfunding is associated with campaign success, and whether those associations vary across sector contexts and with campaign execution burden. Using dictionary‐based text measures from 635 U.S. Kickstarter campaigns across five sectors, we distinguish three novelty‐framing moves: capability/rigor language, excellence/status language, and attitude/affect language. We find no uniform association between aggregate hype and success. Instead, the observed associations vary systematically across rhetorical moves, sectors, and goal levels. Capability/rigor language is positively associated with success in Technology, attitude/affect language is positively associated with success in Entertainment, and excellence/status language is negatively associated with success in Design. Beyond these sector differences, the paper's clearest cross‐cutting pattern is that capability/rigor language becomes more positively associated with success as funding goals increase. Managerial Summary The value of “hype” on Kickstarter depends on what is said, what is being offered, and how ambitious the ask is. In our data, Technology campaigns are more positively associated with success when descriptions emphasize testing, technical specificity, and execution readiness, whereas Entertainment campaigns are more positively associated with attitude/affect language. In contrast, excellence/status claims are associated with lower success in Design. Across contexts, the clearest pattern is that feasibility‐oriented language becomes more positively associated with success as funding goals increase, suggesting that larger asks benefit more from cues of deliverability than from undifferentiated promotional intensity.

Abstract Research Summary We examine how entrepreneur‐expressed humility affects early stage investors' willingness to fund new ventures. In pitching contexts where investors rely on relational cues and implicit prototypes of entrepreneurs, we theorize three distinct pathways through which expressed humility shapes funding decisions. First, building on research regarding interpersonal signals in early stage valuation, we propose that humility fosters perceptions of interpersonal affect and trust and team‐building qualities, increasing investors' willingness to fund. Second, drawing on implicit leadership theories, we argue that humility may trigger negative perceptions regarding the entrepreneur's ability to make rapid and risky decisions. Across a videometric analysis of 140 real‐world pitches and a randomized experiment with French early stage investors, we show that expressed humility elicits both pathways, but investors prioritize positive attributions. Managerial Summary Although humility is often regarded as a positive leadership trait, it contradicts implicit prototypes of successful entrepreneurs, who are typically seen as dominant and assertive. We examine how early stage investors perceive and respond to displays of humility during pitches. We propose that entrepreneur‐expressed humility produces ambiguous effects: It enhances perceptions of interpersonal affect and trust and team‐building qualities, but raises doubts about the entrepreneur's ability to make rapid and risky decisions. Using a videometric analysis of 140 pitches from the French version of Shark Tank and a randomized experiment with venture capital investors, we find evidence for these competing pathways. Overall, investors prioritize the positive attributions of interpersonal skills, suggesting that entrepreneurs benefit from expressing humility when pitching.

Abstract Research Summary Using a panel of 2688 city‐year observations of German fintech ventures and entrepreneurial support organizations (ESOs), we examine how ESO presence relates to venture entry. We argue and demonstrate that this relationship is contingent on local founding conditions. We find that ESO presence is most strongly associated with entry in thin ecosystems, while this association weakens in more active and developed contexts. Patterns in entries of non‐supported versus ESO‐supported ventures, along with differences across ESO types, support our argument that primarily ecosystem‐level bridging mechanisms, such as legitimacy diffusion, knowledge spillovers, and access to relational networks, are sensitive to local conditions, whereas direct support provided by ESOs to program participants is not context‐dependent. Managerial Summary Entrepreneurs, entrepreneurial support organizations (ESOs), and ecosystem builders benefit from understanding the broader economic and entrepreneurial context. In well‐developed ecosystems, informal networks can provide access to knowledge, collaboration opportunities, and legitimacy signals, reducing the marginal contribution of additional ESO presence in the ecosystem. In less‐developed ecosystems, ESOs can support venture formation by bridging entrepreneurs to networks, partners, and markets, and by mitigating resource scarcity and the challenges of newness. Structured programs, targeted mentorship, and guidance can support venture entry across the ecosystem, complementing existing informal networks and addressing gaps where they exist. Our findings suggest that the role and potential impact of ESOs vary with local founding conditions, emphasizing the importance of aligning support mechanisms with ecosystem maturity and structural characteristics.

Abstract Research Summary Entrepreneurs use strategic framing to gain support for their novel ventures, products, and services. A key challenge entrepreneurs face is that audiences often contest frames that introduce novel ideas, especially when these ideas disrupt audiences' mental and business models. Such contestation can hinder novel ideas from being accepted, a risk that is amplified when entrepreneurs face contestation from multiple audiences. We lack understanding, however, of how contestation from multiple audiences shapes the strategic framing of novel ideas. We study this question at Tony's Chocolonely, a social enterprise that faced such contestation when introducing “slave‐free” chocolate. By showing how the social enterprise reacted to contestation from multiple audiences in different ways, we uncover novel mechanisms of frame change and stability. Managerial Summary Entrepreneurs use strategic framing to gain support for their novel ideas, products, and services. In so doing, they must navigate resistance from different audiences, especially when entrepreneurs introduce novel ideas that disrupt the status quo. Audience resistance can hinder novel ideas from gaining momentum. We do not know, however, how entrepreneurs can navigate resistance from multiple audiences. Our study examines how Tony's Chocolonely, a social enterprise fighting child labor in the chocolate industry, navigated resistance against its “slave‐free” chocolate from diverse audiences. Our study reveals novel insights into how audience resistance shapes entrepreneurs' strategic framing of novel ideas.

Abstract Research Summary Entrepreneurs make critical decisions in uncertain environments where information is limited, outcomes are difficult to predict, and multiple goals often compete. Yet, existing research offers scattered insights into how entrepreneurs dynamically adapt to such contexts and how their decisions are shaped by behavioral and cognitive foundations such as judgment, intuition, and experience. We shed light on these phenomena by exploring how decision‐making is influenced by factors at multiple levels, from individual traits and family dynamics to team interactions and organizational structures. A key aspect of our inquiry focuses on how entrepreneurs manage uncertainty by balancing economic goals, such as growth and profitability, with non‐economic objectives like social impact, sustainability, or knowledge advancement. By integrating these perspectives, this work offers a conceptual framework that connects antecedents, processes, and outcomes of entrepreneurial decision‐making under uncertainty and competing goals, providing a promising roadmap for future research. Managerial Summary Entrepreneurs often make decisions in uncertain environments, where they must contend with limited information and competing goals. This work explores how entrepreneurs balance economic objectives, such as profit, with non‐economic ones, like satisfying various stakeholders, achieving social impact, and sustainability. It highlights the role of individual, family, team, and organizational factors in shaping these decisions, offering novel insights into how entrepreneurs can manage trade‐offs, adapt feedback‐based strategies, and recalibrate priorities over time. For owners, managers, and business leaders, understanding these dynamics can lead to better decision‐making, improved risk management, enhanced strategic alignment, increased innovation, and a more balanced approach to growth.

Abstract Research Summary This research investigates how corporate entrepreneurs' emotional reactions to the business impact of a crisis interact with psychological climates to drive engagement in opportunity formation. Drawing on affective events theory and psychological climate theory, we posit that positive emotional reactions increase engagement in opportunity formation when the psychological climate for initiative is strong, and negative emotional reactions increase engagement when the psychological climate for psychological safety is strong. Conversely, these relationships become negative when these climates are weak. An analysis of data from an eight‐wave longitudinal investigation involving 126 corporate entrepreneurs supports our predictions. By uncovering how corporate entrepreneurs' emotional reactions interact with climates for initiative and psychological safety, we illuminate the affective foundations of opportunity formation and show how organizations can foster climates that channel emotions into entrepreneurial action. Managerial Summary This study examines how corporate entrepreneurs' emotional reactions to crises interact with psychological climates to shape entrepreneurial actions. Our findings demonstrate that organizations should cultivate climates characterized by high personal initiative and psychological safety among middle managers. Managers' perceptions of such climates effectively harness both positive and negative emotional reactions for productive entrepreneurial actions, thereby facilitating corporate entrepreneurship. These insights are particularly marked for firms in disrupted industries, where conventional business approaches become obsolete in a crisis. Absent such organizational climates, managers' emotional reactions can discourage them from taking initiative on new opportunities, making it more difficult for the organization to transform and adapt.

Abstract Research Summary This study examines how academic entrepreneurs refine business ideas in response to external critique and how these responses relate to performance. We develop a framework that links feedback (critique), business‐idea changes (pivots), and performance, and test it using detailed data on external stakeholder feedback, changes to the business idea's core and periphery, and commercialization outcomes in 316 academic‐led teams. We find that academic entrepreneurs frequently modify their business idea's core in response to negative feedback, and that core changes—rather than peripheral ones—are positively associated with commercialization. Challenging the idea that all entrepreneurs are inertial, we find that academic entrepreneurs both actively embrace and benefit from changes to the business idea's core. By tracing the feedback‐response dynamics of business idea components, our study adds granularity to research on pivoting. Managerial Summary Entrepreneurs often face a choice between reworking the core of a business idea and making changes to its periphery. Analyzing 316 academic‐led teams seeking to commercialize technologies using the Lean Startup Method, we find that academic‐led teams frequently change their idea's core in response to negative feedback—and that only core changes, rather than peripheral changes, are linked to improved commercialization outcomes. Overall, the results show the effectiveness of the Lean Startup Method and demonstrate that focusing feedback on the core of the business idea is an effective way to provide feedback to academic entrepreneurs.