Ambiguity squared

de Tiona Zuzul

This paper explores how entrepreneurs grow a new business in a nascent industry. Through a longitudinal, qualitative study of a new company in the nascent smart cities industry, we examine how company leaders grew a new venture while facing the ambiguity inherent in the very early phases of a new industry. We identify two distinct essential journeys that enabled the company to grow: an internal journey focused on developing and refining a business model and an external journey focused on legitimating both the firm and its growing industry. Our study illuminates the activities entrepreneurs undertake in pursuing these interconnected journeys. We also show how externally and internally oriented activities can interfere with each other. Not only do they require different skills and approaches, but successfully pursuing one can impair an entrepreneur's ability to manage the other. Pursuing both journeys simultaneously is thus even more challenging than the challenges considered separately would imply. We argue that growth in a new industry may require skillful attention to both journeys while also managing their problematic interactions. Our findings contribute to research on entrepreneurship in nascent industries and suggest directions for future research.