Recent entrepreneurship research discusses numerous potential obstacles on the path towards business formation. The acquisition of resources, especially external finance, constitutesaformidablechallengefoundershavetomeet.Substantialrejectionratesof potential investors create external selection pressures on new ventures in that they contributetofailuresorinfluencethegrowthofsurvivingyoungcompanies.However, the founders themselves take an active role in the search for financial resources by addressing various potential financiers and taking decisions on the direction and continuation of their search for investors. Similarly, the results of the large US Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics point at the importance of adjustments in founders' fund-raising intentions in the course of early stage financial development of new ventures. The work at hand focuses on this process of solving problems during the search for external funding in emerging new ventures. The author explicitly does not analyze which factors of success will allow to convince potential investors with certainty. Regarding the search for funding as an open-ended process for epistemological reasons,heratheraimsatthereconstructionofsearchprocessesandthederivationof explanatorypatternsfortheactionsofventurefoundersinsearchofexternalfunding.

Recent entrepreneurship research discusses numerous potential obstacles on the path towards business formation. The acquisition of resources, especially external finance, constitutesaformidablechallengefoundershavetomeet.Substantialrejectionratesof potential investors create external selection pressures on new ventures in that they contributetofailuresorinfluencethegrowthofsurvivingyoungcompanies.However, the founders themselves take an active role in the search for financial resources by addressing various potential financiers and taking decisions on the direction and continuation of their search for investors. Similarly, the results of the large US Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics point at the importance of adjustments in founders’ fund-raising intentions in the course of early stage financial development of new ventures. The work at hand focuses on this process of solving problems during the search for external funding in emerging new ventures. The author explicitly does not analyze which factors of success will allow to convince potential investors with certainty. Regarding the search for funding as an open-ended process for epistemological reasons,heratheraimsatthereconstructionofsearchprocessesandthederivationof explanatorypatternsfortheactionsofventurefoundersinsearchofexternalfunding.

Outline of problem and overview.- Epistemological concept: entrepreneurs as human agents.- New ventures: definition, financing needs, and legitimacy.- Financiers’ legitimacy demands and the evolution of entrepreneurs’ fund-raising intentions.- Multiple case studies of fund-raising processes in new ventures.- Conclusions and implications for research and practice.

Recent entrepreneurship research discusses numerous potential obstacles on the path towards business formation. The acquisition of resources, especially external finance, constitutesaformidablechallengefoundershavetomeet.Substantialrejectionratesof potential investors create external selection pressures on new ventures in that they contributetofailuresorinfluencethegrowthofsurvivingyoungcompanies.However, the founders themselves take an active role in the search for financial resources by addressing various potential financiers and taking decisions on the direction and continuation of their search for investors. Similarly, the results of the large US Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics point at the importance of adjustments in founders’ fund-raising intentions in the course of early stage financial development of new ventures. The work at hand focuses on this process of solving problems during the search for external funding in emerging new ventures. The author explicitly does not analyze which factors of success will allow to convince potential investors with certainty. Regarding the search for funding as an open-ended process for epistemological reasons,heratheraimsatthereconstructionofsearchprocessesandthederivationof explanatorypatternsfortheactionsofventurefoundersinsearchofexternalfunding.