Looking for the X-factor – Constructing Ideal Startup Entrepreneurship

There are only a few studies that have focused on entrepreneuring within the increasingly dominant area of entrepreneurship, i.e. technology-oriented startup entrepreneurship. Furthermore, the extant research has mostly examined how entrepreneurship is constructed in and through linguistic acts. In our study, we draw from sociomateriality to examine the performative construction of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs within a pitching competition of a major startup and technology conference. We identify entrepreneurship to be constructed as ‘rock stardom’, ‘vital’, and ‘risk-averse.’ Our study contributes to critical research on entrepreneurship by elucidating the specific construction of startup entrepreneurship and providing a rare example on sociomateriality of entrepreneuring. We acknowledge that startup practices, such as pitching, offer great business possibilities for many and inspire large audiences of entrepreneurs and wannabe entrepreneurs. However, the narrow ideal of high-tech startup entrepreneurship excludes other understandings and ways of being an entrepreneur. Furthermore, the emphasis on fast-growing high-tech startup entrepreneurship restricts our attention from the need of the low-tech hardware solutions, which could be more sustainable in many contexts.