Sujith Nair

California Management Review 68(1) p. 124-148 Doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/00081256251383844

Startup-corporate partnerships provide mutual benefits by combining startups’ innovation with established firms’ resources and processes. However, despite these clear advantages, initiating and nurturing such partnerships is often fraught with obstacles. Our research provides evidence-based insights for startup founders and corporate managers on how these partnerships unfold. Specifically, we identify two distinct pathways that can serve as a practical starting point for corporate managers. Also, we pinpoint three key “pathbreakers” in the formation process and offer strategies to effectively manage them. In addition, the article highlights the cumulative signals that both parties can use not only to create the potential for partnership but to bring the collaboration to fruition. This guidance to managers seeking to establish or engage in such partnerships includes outlining key factors to consider, potential challenges that may arise, and actionable strategies to address them.

California Management Review

IEEE transactions on engineering management 71 Doi: https://doi.org/10.1109/TEM.2024.3484750

Entrepreneurs traditionally use “learning-by-doing” and “learning-by-thinking” as alternative approaches to iteratively build business models for their new ventures. However, both approaches face criticism in how they address novelty and uncertainty, which are crucial to successful entrepreneurship. While generative AI (GenAI) is increasingly used in entrepreneurial tasks, the practices through which it becomes a learning resource for entrepreneurs remain unexplored. Based on a qualitative study, we present a process model that illustrates how entrepreneurs incorporate GenAI into business model design through five resourcing practices. These practices transform GenAI into a valuable resource for facilitating learning during the design process. This approach, which we term “learning-by-conversing,” introduces a generative startup methodology to complement the lean startup model. We distinguish two modes of learning by conversing—reflexive learning and confirmatory learning—based on how novice and experienced entrepreneurs engage with it. By proposing a learning approach that integrates GenAI with entrepreneurial efforts, we bridge the “thinking” versus “doing” debate in business model generation and deepen our understanding of GenAI's role in entrepreneurship

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research 30(11) p. 120-139 Doi: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEBR-02-2023-0147

Wage employees enter self-employment either directly or in a staged manner and may subsequently undertake multiple stints at self-employment. Extant research on the relationship between entry modes and the persistence and outcomes of self-employment is inconclusive. This study investigates the relationship between wage employees’ initial mode of entry into self-employment and the duration of the subsequent first two stints of self-employment.

Industry and Innovation Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/13662716.2023.2189091

As incumbents strive to collaborate with start-ups in the pursuit of cutting-edge digital solutions, the complexities posed by disparate partners and their innovative endeavours often lead to intricate tensions. Our research underscores the critical role of innovation intermediaries in enabling a successful digital co-creation, yet a deeper understanding of this novel and evolving context is required. Through a comprehensive study of two innovation intermediaries, five incumbent companies, and eleven start-ups, we shed light on how intermediaries can effectively mitigate the hard-to-manage tensions that emerge. Our analysis uncovers three primary tensions: incompatible digital co-creation cultures, divergent digital innovation operations, and misaligned technical capabilities. We further propose a four-phase process for innovation intermediation, including the establishment of digital co-creation foundations, catalysing digital innovation projects, orchestrating the co-creation process, and scaling the resulting outcomes.