Supervisors: Franziska Günzel-Jensen & Oana Vuculescu
Discussants: Ingo Kleindienst & Jakob Arnoldi

Abstract
As part of my PhD project investigating the temporal narrative construction in entrepreneurial pitches by early-stage entrepreneurs, this presentation will focus on the (preliminary) findings from two of my papers.

Paper 1 is a systematic literature review that explores how the concepts of past, present and future are employed in entrepreneurial narratives, and how they influence entrepreneurial processes and outcomes. Drawing on an analysis of 61 empirical and conceptual papers, the paper identifies three key insights: 1) temporal narratives vary across different stages of the entrepreneurial journey, 2) they have been examined both as independent and dependent variables, reflecting a wide range of methodological and conceptual approaches, and 3) entrepreneurs use temporal narratives for diverse purposes that extend beyond resource acquisition. In this presentation, I will summarise the main findings of this paper to provide a foundation for further research in this area.

Paper 2 is an empirical study that explores how academic entrepreneurs construct temporal narratives in their pitches. Based on the qualitative data collected over the past year with spinout entrepreneurs participating in a pitch week at the Kitchen, this paper takes an inductive approach to uncover the narrative strategies used by these entrepreneurs. Academic entrepreneurship presents a particularly compelling setting for this study as the academic entrepreneurs sit at the intersection of academia and entrepreneurship, which are two domains with distinct and often conflicting temporal structures. This context allows for a rich examination of the academic entrepreneurs’ temporal sense-making and strategic use of their pitches as a tool for future-making. In the presentation, I will share the preliminary findings based on the data collected so far (as the data collection is ongoing), along with reflections and thoughts for the remainder of the paper.

Everyone is welcome!