Pitching a business idea to investors: How new venture founders use micro-level rhetoric to achieve narrative plausibility and resonance

For entrepreneurial narratives to be effective, they need to be judged as plausible and have to resonate with an audience. Prior research has, however, not examined or explained how entrepreneurs try to meet these criteria. In this paper, we addressed this question by analysing the micro-level arguments underpinning the pitch narratives of entrepreneurs who joined a business incubator. We discerned four previously unidentified rhetorical strategies that these entrepreneurs used to achieve narrative plausibility and resonance. Our findings further suggest that temporality and product development status may shape how entrepreneurs use these strategies. By outlining these aspects of entrepreneurial rhetoric, we contribute to opening up the black box of narrative resonance and plausibility and advance work on the role of rhetoric in entrepreneurship

The Tumor and its Microenvironment in Mesothelioma

__Abstract__ Asbestos is a natural mineral that was, and unfortunately still is, used a lot by mankind because of the outstanding properties of the substance. It is durable, strong, electricand heat-resistant and, last but not least, cheap. The discovery of these properties was made millennia ago in ancient Greek, and thus the mining and use of asbestos was initiated over 2000 years ago. During the middle ages, the use of asbestos declined, but in the documents remaining, several descriptions of asbestos use were described. For example, Charlemagne (2 April 747 or 748 – 28 January 814) convinced his guests that he had supernatural powers by throwing his asbestos tablecloth into a fire, and then pulling it out without any singe mark of burning1. Marco Polo wore fire-resistant clothing made from fibrous material on his travels in the Ural Mountains in the 13th century1. The popularity of the material clearly increased in the 19th century, when asbestos was massively used during the industrial revolution. It further increased in the 20th century; a total of 174 million tons of asbestos was mined during these 100 years2. Despite asbestos bans in a growing number of countries worldwide, in the year 2013, a total of 1.94 million tons of asbestos was mined3. In the Netherlands, the population mainly

Analysis of yarn bending behaviour

This paper adresses the bending behaviour of individual multi-filament yarns for use in textile forming analyses. Yarn specimens deform nonlinearly under their own weight in a cantilever configuration. a relation between the applied moment and the resulting curvature is established. Numerical simulations are performed to establish the contribution of shear rigidity to the deflectio

Friction measurements on carbon fibre tows

Friction plays an important role in the production of fibre reinforced\ud composite products. The fibrous tows deform during the forming phase. Friction is\ud regarded as a dominant phenomenon in tow deformation mechanisms. The coefficient\ud of friction is a material-interface characteristic which gives a relation between applied\ud deformation loads and frictional forces. A capstan experiment has been performed with\ud carbon fibre tows on a steel cylinder. This work aims to clarify friction related mechanisms\ud and identify dominant parameters. The applicability of the capstan experiment is\ud investigated with respect to the frictional behaviour of fibrous tows

Relative entropy as a measure of inhomogeneity in general relativity

We introduce the notion of relative volume entropy for two spacetimes with preferred compact spacelike foliations. This is accomplished by applying the notion of Kullback-Leibler divergence to the volume elements induced on spacelike slices. The resulting quantity gives a lower bound on the number of bits which are necessary to describe one metric given the other. For illustration, we study some examples, in particular gravitational waves, and conclude that the relative volume entropy is a suitable device for quantitative comparison of the inhomogeneity of two spacetimes.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figure

Design and fabrication of a low cost implantable bladder pressure monitor

In the frame of the Flemish Community funded project Bioflex we developed and fabricated an implant for short term (< 7 days) bladder pressure monitoring, and diagnosis of incontinence. This implant is soft and flexible to prevent damaging the bladder's inner wall. It contains a standard flexible electronic circuit connected to a battery, which are embedded in surface treated silicone to enhance the biocompatibility and prevent salt deposition. This article describes the fabrication of the pill and the results of preliminary cytotoxicity tests. The electronic design and its tests, implantation and the result of the in-vivo experimentation will be presented in other articles