How do Entrepreneurs Engage Communities of Inquiry?

Research Paper Title:

“A social model of opportunity development: Building and engaging communities of inquiry”

Authors:

Dean Shepherd (University of Notre Dame)
Rose Sattari (Technical University of Munich)
Holger Patzelt (Technical University of Munich)

Background:

Practitioners and academics alike posit that interacting with a community of inquiry is an important means for entrepreneurs to develop their opportunities to market. However, there are substantial differences in the ways how entrepreneurs engage such communities in the opportunity development process. Drawing on a close observation of eight young ventures in a startup incubator over several month, we found that founding teams composed of varied specialists tend to openly engage with a community of inquiry, while founding teams composed of generalists tend to engage in a more focused manner with a community of inquiry. Based on these differences in community engagement, teams of varied specialists are more successful in developing their opportunities to market than teams of generalists. Thus, the notion that entrepreneurs should be "jack of all trades" (generalists) does not seem to apply for opportunity development in a founding team setting.

Methodology:

Sample: Young incubator venture involved in opportunity development
Sample Size: 16 incubators
Analytical Approach: Qualitative comparative case study

Results:

• Founding teams of varied specialists openly engaging with their community of inquiry progress better in opportunity development than teams of generalists engaging in a focused manner.

• Founding teams of varied specialists tend to gather diverse information from a community of inquiry, while teams of generalists tend to gather specialized information.

• Founding teams of varied specialists tend to generate multiple alternatives for further opportunity development by interacting with a community of inquiry, while teams of generalists tend to generate related alternatives.

• Founding teams of varied specialists tend to test opportunity conjectures by seeking disconfirming evidence from a community of inquiry, while teams of generalists tend to seek confirming evidence.

Conclusion:

Entrepreneurs’s approach to community engagement (open vs. focused) is central to the development of their opportunities. Through guiding interactions with a community of inquiry, prior knowledge indirectly influences opportunity progress. We articulate the key interaction mechanisms that influence how entrepreneurs can benefit from interacting with communities of inquiry.