Recent literature suggests entrepreneurs struggle to pivot—or fundamentally change aspects of their venture—due to identity-based resistance to change. Yet, when entrepreneurs receive negative feedback, overcoming this resistance may be important to pivoting their business model. We adopt a convergent, mixed methods research design to explore when and why some entrepreneurs overcome resistance to change in response to negative feedback during early-stage business model experimentation. Building upon qualitative data that we gathered and analyzed, we theorize entrepreneurs may resist pivoting their value proposition relative to other business model components despite receiving negative feedback on this aspect of their business model. However, we find three factors – entrepreneurial experience, startup mentoring, and team size – may enable entrepreneurs to pivot in response to negative feedback. We theorize that these factors broaden a startup team's perspective, enabling value proposition pivoting during early-stage business model experimentation. We test these relationships with quantitative data from 80 startups engaged in business model experimentation and find support across hypotheses. We contribute to understanding when and why entrepreneurs pivot aspects of their business models in response to negative feedback during early-stage business model experimentation.

Executive summary

The entrepreneurship literature suggests startups may benefit from experimentation and pivoting different parts of their business model in response to negative feedback from stakeholders (Andries et al., 2021; Camuffo et al., 2020; Shepherd and Gruber, 2021). In early stages of starting a new venture, a business model refers to a cognitive schema or belief about an activity system that could potentially create and capture value (Massa et al., 2017; Shepherd and Gruber, 2021). Business model experimentation is the process of testing assumptions underlying this potential business model and pivoting business model assumptions in response to negative feedback (Andries et al., 2013; McDonald and Eisenhardt, 2020; Leatherbee and Katila, 2020). Building upon prior literature, we define business model pivoting as a fundamental change to parts of the business model (Berends et al., 2021; Snihur and Clarysse, 2022; Shepherd and Gruber, 2021). Yet, literature also suggests founders often struggle to pivot assumptions despite negative feedback. Motives to preserve and protect certain assumptions relevant to founders' identities can interfere with pivoting (Grimes, 2018; Kirtley and O'Mahony, 2023; Zuzul and Tripsas, 2020). Despite the general understanding that founders struggle to change their ideas, however, the entrepreneurship literature currently lacks precise insight into when and why founders can overcome resistance to pivoting.

In this research, we explore when and why startups pivot different parts of their business model. We do so within the context of early-stage business model experimentation, where founders explicitly state assumptions about different parts of their potential business model, test those assumptions against stakeholder feedback, and are encouraged to pivot business model components in response to negative feedback. Through a mixed methods research design, we find (1) founders tend to resist pivoting their value propositions relative to other parts of a business model in response to negative feedback; and (2) entrepreneurial experience, startup mentoring, and team size enables startups to overcome this resistance to pivoting in response to negative feedback. We theorize these factors broaden founders' perspectives (Warshay, 1962), contributing to a greater willingness to pivot during experimentation.

We contribute to the literature on entrepreneurial pivoting by explaining nuanced variation in pivoting distinct business model components during experimentation. This contribution is important because it reveals that resistance to pivoting the business model may be more complex than previously thought. We also contribute to the literature at the nexus of business model experimentation and entrepreneurial cognition by finding that entrepreneurial experience, startup mentoring, and team size enable startups to pivot despite psychological resistance to pivoting in response to negative feedback because it broadens founders' perspectives. This insight is important theoretically because it advances what we know about enabling experimenting with business models under conditions of uncertainty. The research presented here has clear and important implications for practice. This research suggests founders often resist changing the value proposition versus other components of their business models in early stages of venture development. This resistance can impede experimentation and pivoting in response to negative feedback. To the extent founders want to broaden their perspective to enable pivoting their value propositions in response to negative feedback during early stages of venture development, our data suggest they may be able to do so by recruiting members with entrepreneurial experience on their team (or gain entrepreneurial experience themselves), engage frequently with startup mentors, and increase the size of their team. Overall, we view the breath of perspective that comes from experience and interactions with others as an advantage for entrepreneurs when experimenting with their business models during early stages of venture development.

中文翻译：

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早期商业模式试验和转型

最近的文献表明，由于基于身份的对变革的抵制，企业家难以调整或从根本上改变他们企业的各个方面。然而，当企业家收到负面反馈时，克服这种阻力对于转变他们的商业模式可能很重要。我们采用趋同的混合方法研究设计来探索一些企业家何时以及为何在早期商业模式试验期间克服对负面反馈的抵制以应对变革。基于我们收集和分析的定性数据，我们推测企业家可能会拒绝将他们的价值主张相对于其他商业模式组成部分进行调整，尽管他们的商业模式在这方面收到了负面反馈。然而，我们发现三个因素——创业经验、创业指导、和团队规模——可能使企业家能够根据负面反馈做出调整。我们的理论是，这些因素拓宽了创业团队的视野，使价值主张能够在早期业务模型试验期间进行调整。我们使用来自 80 家从事商业模式实验的初创公司的定量数据来测试这些关系，并找到跨假设的支持。我们有助于了解企业家何时以及为何调整其商业模式的各个方面以响应早期商业模式试验期间的负面反馈。我们使用来自 80 家从事商业模式实验的初创公司的定量数据来测试这些关系，并找到跨假设的支持。我们有助于了解企业家何时以及为何调整其商业模式的各个方面以响应早期商业模式试验期间的负面反馈。我们使用来自 80 家从事商业模式实验的初创公司的定量数据来测试这些关系，并找到跨假设的支持。我们有助于了解企业家何时以及为何调整其商业模式的各个方面以响应早期商业模式试验期间的负面反馈。

执行摘要

创业文献表明，初创公司可能会受益于试验和调整其业务模型的不同部分以响应利益相关者的负面反馈（Andries 等人，2021 年；Camuffo 等人，2020 年；Shepherd 和 Gruber，2021 年）。在开始新企业的早期阶段，商业模式指的是对可能创造和获取价值的活动系统的认知模式或信念（Massa 等人，2017 年；Shepherd 和 Gruber，2021 年）。商业模式实验是测试潜在商业模式背后的假设并根据负面反馈调整商业模式假设的过程（Andries 等人，2013 年；McDonald 和 Eisenhardt，2020 年；Leatherbee 和 Katila，2020 年）。在先前文献的基础上，我们定义了商业模式枢纽作为对部分商业模式的根本改变（Berends 等人，2021 年；Snihur 和 Clarysse，2022 年；Shepherd 和 Gruber，2021 年）。然而，文献还表明，尽管有负面反馈，创始人常常难以改变假设。保留和保护与创始人身份相关的某些假设的动机可能会干扰转向（Grimes，2018 年；Kirtley 和 O'Mahony，2023 年；Zuzul 和 Tripsas，2020 年）。尽管人们普遍认为创始人努力改变他们的想法，但是，创业文献目前缺乏准确的洞察力来说明创始人何时以及为什么能够克服对转向的阻力。

在这项研究中，我们探讨了初创公司何时以及为何转向其商业模式的不同部分。我们在早期业务模型实验的背景下这样做，创始人明确陈述关于其潜在业务模型不同部分的假设，根据利益相关者的反馈测试这些假设，并鼓励创始人调整业务模型组件以响应负面反馈。通过混合方法研究设计，我们发现（1）创始人倾向于拒绝将他们的价值主张相对于业务模型的其他部分进行调整以应对负面反馈；(2) 创业经验、创业指导和团队规模使创业公司能够克服这种对负面反馈作出反应的阻力。我们将这些因素理论化，拓宽了创始人的视野（Warshay，1962 年），

我们通过解释在实验过程中旋转不同业务模型组件的细微差别，为关于创业旋转的文献做出了贡献。这一贡献很重要，因为它揭示了对转变商业模式的抵制可能比以前想象的更复杂。我们还通过发现创业经验、初创企业指导和团队规模使初创企业能够进行转型，尽管在心理上抵制响应负面反馈而进行转型，因为它拓宽了创始人的视野，从而为商业模式实验和创业认知之间的联系做出了贡献。这种见解在理论上很重要，因为它推进了我们对在不确定条件下对商业模式进行试验的了解。这里介绍的研究对实践具有明确而重要的意义。这项研究表明，在创业发展的早期阶段，创始人往往拒绝改变价值主张，而不是改变其商业模式的其他组成部分。这种阻力会阻碍实验和对负面反馈的反应。如果创始人希望拓宽他们的视野，以便能够在风险发展的早期阶段转变他们的价值主张以应对负面反馈，我们的数据表明他们可以通过在他们的团队中招募具有创业经验的成员（或获得创业经验）来做到这一点体验自己），经常与创业导师接触，并扩大他们的团队规模。全面的，