The global spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus–2) has led to drastic infection control measures that have dramatically affected societies and economies worldwide. Against this background, it is the purpose of this commentary to illustrate how innovative entrepreneurial activity in particular has been affected by the rising uncertainty caused by the first COVID-19 wave. By comparing innovative North American and European startups established pre-crisis and during the first wave of the pandemic, this commentary suggests that startups founded in the crisis are characterised less by entrepreneurial teams and more by habitual entrepreneurs. Interestingly, women’s entrepreneurial activity seems not to have been affected by the crisis when measured as the proportion of women founders involved in innovative startups pre-crisis and during crisis. The commentary thus, illustrates what particular type of entrepreneur persists during uncertainty and allows us to draw conclusions for policy-making and further research on the interface of entrepreneurship, crisis and uncertainty.

由新型冠状病毒SARS-CoV-2（严重急性呼吸系统综合症冠状病毒-2）引起的2019年冠状病毒疾病（COVID-19）在全球的传播已导致了严厉的感染控制措施，这些措施极大地影响了全世界的社会和经济。在此背景下，本评论的目的是说明第一轮COVID-19浪潮引起的不确定性上升如何特别影响创新型创业活动。通过比较在危机前和大流行第一波期间建立的创新的北美和欧洲初创公司，这篇评论表明，在危机中成立的初创公司的特色在于较少的企业家团队，而更多的是习惯性企业家。有趣的是，从危机前和危机期间参与创新型初创企业的女性创始人的比例来衡量，妇女的创业活动似乎并未受到危机的影响。这样的评论说明了在不确定性中哪种类型的企业家会持续存在，并使我们能够得出决策的结论，并进一步研究企业家精神，危机和不确定性之间的关系。