In recent years, a new class of entrepreneurs and investors has emerged in India. In this article, based on fourteen months of ethnographic fieldwork with start‐ups in Delhi, I examine how entrepreneurs are valued by investors and the sociocultural implications of this process. I make two arguments. First, the criteria used to judge creditworthiness, including personal networks, technological capability, and ability to undertake speculative risk, serve as signals of an entrepreneur's value to prospective investors. Second, as investors acknowledge, the investment is made in the specific personhood of the entrepreneur rather than the business plan. Therefore the process of seeking investment capital, far from being simply a means of scaling one's business, is an act of cultural construction. The entrepreneur's value as wealth‐in‐people is not judged objectively; rather, it is created through the process of pitching and securing investment commitments. One of the contributions of this research is to center the real and perceived relationship between entrepreneurs and investors in studying start‐up spaces in India. Examining this relationship reveals the forms of economic, sociocultural, and moral value that are interwoven with each other. The multiple, often contradictory meanings attached to entrepreneurship are negotiated through the prism of investment, which emerges as a dynamic site for constructing and contesting entrepreneurial identities.

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印度的投资，价值和创业精神

近年来，印度出现了新一类的企业家和投资者。在本文中，基于在德里开展的十四个月的民族志调查和初创公司的实地考察，我研究了投资者如何评价企业家的价值以及这一过程的社会文化含义。我有两个论点。首先，用于判断信誉的标准，包括个人网络，技术能力和承担投机风险的能力，是企业家对潜在投资者的价值的信号。其次，正如投资者所承认的那样，投资是根据企业家的特定个人身份而不是商业计划进行的。因此，寻求投资资本的过程，不仅仅是简单地扩大业务规模的一种手段，而是一种文化建设的行为。企业家' 作为人的财富的价值没有得到客观的判断；相反，它是通过推销和确保投资承诺的过程而创建的。这项研究的贡献之一是，在研究印度的创业空间时，将企业家与投资者之间的真实和可感知的关系置于中心。研究这种关系揭示了相互交织的经济，社会文化和道德价值形式。企业家精神所具有的多种含义（通常是相互矛盾的）是通过投资棱镜来谈判的，而投资棱镜则是构建和挑战企业家身份的动态场所。这项研究的贡献之一是，在研究印度的创业空间时，将企业家与投资者之间的真实和可感知的关系置于中心。研究这种关系揭示了相互交织的经济，社会文化和道德价值形式。企业家精神所具有的多种含义（通常是相互矛盾的）是通过投资棱镜来谈判的，而投资棱镜则是构建和挑战企业家身份的动态场所。这项研究的贡献之一是，在研究印度的创业空间时，将企业家与投资者之间的真实和可感知的关系置于中心。研究这种关系揭示了相互交织的经济，社会文化和道德价值形式。企业家精神所具有的多种含义（通常是相互矛盾的）是通过投资棱镜来谈判的，而投资棱镜则是构建和挑战企业家身份的动态场所。