Articulating Problems and Markets: A Translation Analysis of Entrepreneurs’ Emergent Value Propositions

In this qualitative study, the authors apply Callon’s sociology of translation to examine how new technology entrepreneurs enact material arguments that involve the first two moments of translation—problematization (defining a market problem) and interessement (defining a market and the firm’s relationship to it) - which in turn are represented in a claim, the value proposition. That emergent claim can then be represented and further changed during pitches. If accepted, it can then lead to the second two moments of translation: enrollment and mobilization. Drawing on written materials, observations, and interviews, we trace how these value propositions were iterated along three paths to better problematize and interesse, articulating a problem and market on which a business could plausibly be built. We conclude by discussing implications for understanding value propositions in entrepreneurship and, more broadly, using the sociology of translation to analyze emergent, material, consequential arguments. The study is based on data collected at the Austin Technology Incubator’s Student Entrepreneur Acceleration and Launch program (ATI SEAL) at The University of Texas at Austin.IC2 Institut

Go or No Go: Learning to Persuade in an Early-Stage Student Entrepreneurship Program

Abstract—Background: Early-stage accelerator programs teach new entrepreneurs how to identify and exploit venture opportunities. In doing so, they implicitly teach these new entrepreneurs how to develop and iterate claims. But since this function of teaching persuasion has been implicit and generally unsystematic, it is unclear how well it works. Literature review: We review related literature on the venture development process, value propositions, and logic orientation (Goods-Dominant vs. Service-Dominant Logic). Research questions: 1. Does an entrepreneurship training program implicitly teach new entrepreneurs to make and iterate persuasive claims? 2. How effectively does it do so, and how can it improve? Research methodology: We examine one such accelerator program via a qualitative case study. In this case study, we collected interviews, observations, and artifacts, then analyzed them with thematic coding. Results/discussion: All teams had received previous entrepreneurship training and mentoring. However, they differed in their problem and logic orientations as well as their stage in the venture development process. These differences related to the extent to which they iterated value propositions in the program. Conclusions: We conclude with recommendations for improving how accelerator programs can better train new entrepreneurs to communicate and persuade.IC2 Institut

Il y a 70 ans, Auschwitz. Retour sur Primo Levi

27 janvier 1945. Il y a 70 ans les premiers soldats de l’Armée rouge pénétraient dans le camp d’Auschwitz marquant définitivement ce que l’on pourrait appeler sa « libération », bien qu’Auschwitz n’ait été, pas plus qu’aucun autre camp nazi, un objectif prioritaire pour aucune des forces alliées. Primo Levi faisait partie des quelques rescapés qui, échappant aux évacuations forcées, étaient restés cachés à Auschwitz. Juif, déporté, chimiste, témoin, écrivain, retour sur cette personnalité complexe, sur son ascension vers ce qu’il a appelé le « rescapé professionnel », sur son œuvre. Sur ce que les mots « résistance », « engagement » ont signifié pour lui. 27 januari 1945. Zeventig jaar geleden wandelden de eerste soldaten van het Rode Leger Auschwitz binnen. Men zou kunnen zeggen dat het kamp toen werd ‘bevrijd’, hoewel Auschwitz, en geen enkel ander nazikamp, ooit een prioriteit vormden voor de Geallieerden. Primo Levi was een van de weinige overlevenden die zich wisten te verbergen en zo ontsnapten aan de gedwongen evacuaties. Jood, gedeporteerde, chemicus, getuige, schrijver: we blikken terug op deze complexe figuur, op zijn evolutie tot wat hij zelf een ‘professionele overlevende’ noemde, op zijn oeuvre. En op de betekenis die hij aan de woorden ‘verzet’ en ‘engagement’ gaf. 27 January 1945. Seventy years ago the first soldiers of the Red Army marched into Auschwitz. One might argue that the camp was “liberated” then, but the truth is that neither Auschwitz, nor any of the other Nazi camps, was ever a priority to the Allied Powers. Primo Levi was one of the few survivors who knew how to hide and escape the enforced evacuation of the camps. With this dossier, we want to cast light on the complex figure that Levi was: a Jew, a deportee, a chemists, a witness, and a writer. It sets out to study his oeuvre and his interpretation of the notions of “resistance” and “engagement”, in order to understand how he eventually became a “professional survivor”, as he once described himself