Founders for hire? The role of venture studios in breaking the individual-opportunity nexus
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Coelsch-Foisner, Constanze
Vandeweghe, Laurens
Clarysse, Bart
Murray, Fiona
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Entrepreneurship theory has often posited the founder as the central agent of venture creation; from identifying opportunities, to mobilizing resources, and driving execution. We examine how venture studios – organizations that systematically create new ventures by taking over traditionally founder-led processes – challenge this assumption. Drawing on an inductive multiple case study of 16 venture studios with 50 primary and secondary interviews, we reveal how venture studios develop and validate ideas independently from founders prior to recruiting them, and how they coordinate the entrepreneurial process when these functions are separated. Our findings contribute to the literature on the individual-opportunity nexus, the entrepreneurial process and open the research agenda on venture studios as a new phenomenon in entrepreneurship.
Date Issued
2026-07-01
Date Acceptance
2026-03-08
Citation
Journal of Business Venturing, 2026, 41 (4)
ISSN
0883-9026
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Journal / Book Title
Journal of Business Venturing
Volume
41
Issue
4
Copyright Statement
© 2026 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ).
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
106600
Date Publish Online
2026-03-21