Exploring the Venture Creation Process : Evidences from Tech and Non-Tech Nascent Entrepreneurs

The process of creating new organizations has increasingly become the focus of entrepreneurship research (Gartner, 1990). However, despite the growing literature on this area, there were few studies exploring the venture creation process. Even fewer studies examine venture creation process empirically, with the exceptions of Bhave (1994), Reynolds and Miller (1992), Carter, Gartner and Reynolds (1996) and Delmar and Shane (2002). This study aims to examine various venture creation process attributes across technology-based entrepreneurs (TBEs) and non-technology-based nascent entrepreneurs (N-TBEs). In particular, we address this research question: Do TBEs and N-TBEs differ in their venture creation process in terms of the number of startup activities engaged, gestation duration, association and sequencing patterns of startup activities? The question is examined using the dataset of Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics (PSED). Overall, we find that TBEs engage more startup activities in planning, legitimacy establishment and resource acquisitions, but not marketing than N-TBEs. TBEs also take longer time to complete gestation process. Additionally, TBEs and N-TBEs share a common set of core activities and with a high degree of similarity in the sequencing patterns of those core activities. What differentiates TBEs from N-TBEs is non-core, peripheral activities. Implications for future research are provided